Walking Dead Survivor
by Exile037
Summary: Noah Kane was just a average college kid, until the outbreak started. Now he must survive with others in a post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak. He will face walkers, psychos and bandits in order to fight for survival. Can Noah make it in through the apocalypse and live through it all? Will he have what it takes to survive? M just in case. Lee/Carly
1. A New Day

Chapter 1: A New Day

Narration

My name is Noah Kane, I'm a survivor of the outbreak that started in Atlanta. I'm twenty years old and a light skinned African-American. It was just a normal day. I was riding with my friend from college, heading to Macon for some place to eat. It was with me talking to Mike and his girlfriend Haley, so nothing much happened. That was until we hit something, causing the car we were driving to crash into the woods. After a whole ten minutes of gaining consciousness, I was alive but my friend and his girlfriend were already dead covered in a pool of their own blood together. Mike was impaled in the chest by a sharp tree branch, Haley on the other hand was dead because of a pencil stuck her neck. I didn't know what to believe anymore, both of my friends were dead. At least that's what I thought. All of a sudden Mike started struggling to move away from the branch, but Haley rose up from the ground and... and she tried to bite me. She was trying to feel on me like a damn animal. In the next minute, I struck her down three times with a rock I grabbed nearby, even hit her with the rock one last time to make sure she was actually dead. I didn't even understand it all. One minute they're dead, and in the next they start moving with one of them trying to eat me.

That's when one thing crossed my mind. They were turned to zombies. Walkers of the living dead. I wanted to go on with my theory more, but I heard unnatural groaning leading to be more zombies. So there was only one option for me: run like hell!

End Narration

Noah Kane ran through the forest, avoiding zombies trailing behind him as he climbed up a fence wall. He was wearing a long sleeve orange shirt and faded blue jeans, along with a pair of tennis shoes. He moved further away from the fence wall, trying to catch his breath as he noticed a sharp survivalist knife on the porch step. He grabbed it and strapped it under his belt while Noah continued catching breath. However, that was call short when he heard a scream. A child's scream. Noah ran toward the direction as he noticed a black little girl, possibly eight years old wearing a D baseball cap over her head and a African-American man in his late thirties. Down below was one of the walkers of the dead, lying in a pool of its own blood. Its head struck with some sort of blunt object, with Noah seeing the bloodied hammer the man had in his hand.

"Everybody alright?" the two looked at Noah. "I heard screaming, so I came to see if anyone needed help. But looks like you guys are okay."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Noah." he walked in, heading for the sink as he took a gulp of water. "What about you two?"

"I'm Lee." said person motioned his hand to the young girl. "This is Clementine."

"Are you her dad or you two just met?" Noah asked

"We've met only just recently." Lee stated. "She's been here alone all by herself."

Noah blinked. "Seriously?" Lee nodded his head in answer. "Damn."

"What do we do?" Clementine said with her hand on her arm

"We should start leaving right now. This place won't be safe after dark." Noah suggested, walking toward them while moving away from the spilled blood spot on the kitchen floor

"He's right. We need to find help before it gets dark." Lee told Clementine

"Yeah, it's not safe at night." she said in understanding as Lee approached the porch door with Clementine holding his hand

"Stay close at me." he said to Clementine, while Noah followed both of them out

The three of them step out, with Issiah closing the porch door behind him. They moved out of the porch. Clementine ran ahead, while Noah noticed Lee limping on his right leg. But he ignored it as the three moved on, heading toward the gate. That's when they spotted two people trying to move a car out the way. Judging by the looks of them, the look gave off that were from a ranch in rural Georgia. Both of them were men, with one having a slim build and the other overweight. Noah was the first to open the gate, but stopped to see Clementine looking down as Lee crouched down.

"What's the matter?"

"Should I stay?" Clementine asked in a worried tone

"What do you mean, Clem?" Noah asked, giving her a nickname

"I don't want to sleep in the tree house tonight," Clementine paused to glance back at her house. "But I don't know if I should leave. What if my parents come home?"

"I won't leave you here alone." Lee said

"Me too." Noah agreed, giving his finger a tap on Clementine's hat with a smile crossing his face. "We won't leave you here by yourself."

"Let's go somewhere else that's close, okay?"

"That's a good idea." Lee got up with Noah opening the gate, catching the attention of the farm boys

"Holy shit!" said the slim one

"Don't eat us!" the overweight farm hand yelled

"Relax. We're not... one of them." Noah reassured motioning his hands calmly. "And we're not going to hurt you."

"Phew. Thought for a second you two and the little one were BOTH going to get us the chomp."

"We need help." Lee replied

"Are you trying to get out of here? You should be." the slim farm boy said. "Those things are all over the damn place. I haven't seen anything this gnarly as this neighborhood since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back. I'm Shawn. Shawn Greene."

"Lee. This is Clementine and Noah." Lee introduced with Mike shaking Shawn and his friend's hand, with Shawn's friend crouching down to Clementine with a smile on his as he waved

"I'm Chet."

"We shouldn't be out in the open like this." Shawn stated. "How about you help us clear the way and we'll you and your daughter along with your friend out of here, and down to my family's farm. Should be safe there."

Lee shook his head in a no. "I'm not her dad. I'm... just some guy."

Shawn quirked his eyebrows as soon as Lee said that comment. "Some guy?"

"Yeah."

Shawn looked down at Clementine. "She's alone?" he asked with Noah nodding his head with a yes. "Let's get going. Staying put for too long is a mistake."

"What do you want to do?" Lee asked Clementine as she looked at her home

"I..." she trailed off until they heard a non-living sound ahead of them

"Them monsters comin'! We gotta go!" Chet said as he hid in the front side of the truck, with Shawn, Lee and Noah moving the car using their strength

"We gotta move this thing, quick!" Clementine helped in moving the car away from the pick up truck

"Everybody in the truck, now!" Noah yelled as he jumped in the back of the truck with Chet while Shawn, Lee and Clementine went in as Shawn drove away from the horde

`0`

It was now night time dusk as the truck continued to drive in the road, out now in rural Georgia. So far, the coast seemed clear with no sign of walkers anywhere. Noah had to think back about what was going on in Atlanta. He wondered if anyone made it out alive or was it too late. He pinched the bridge of his nose, balling his fist as he pound it to the side of the trunk. Noah looked around and started seeing fields of corn, which meant they were now at Shawn's family farm. The truck came to a stop as Isaiah and Chet jumped out, with Lee and Clementine getting out after Shawn turned off the engine to the truck.

"Hey, Shawn... I'm a' run on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit." Chet said heading off

"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night." Shawn said back

"It was nice to meet ya three." Chet said with Lee and Clementine waving goodbye as they heard a door open, seeing an old man with a white beard

"Thank god, you're OK." the man which could mean that this man was Shawn's father

Shawn hugged his father. "I was worried it'd be bad here too."

"Been quiet as quiet the past couple of days. Ol' Breckon down the way thinks his mare's gone lame but that ain't nothing new."

"I wouldn't have make it back without Chet."

"Well, I'm glad you took him with you then." Shawn's father then glanced at Noah, Lee and Clementine. "You brought in a few guests."

"Your boy's a lifesaver." Lee stated to Shawn's father

"Glad he could be of some help." he looked down to see Clementine. "So it's just you and your daughter. Plus your friend here."

"Oh, not his daughter, he's... well... Just some guy who found her on her own."

Shawn's father crouched down staring at Clementine. "Honey, do you know who this man is?"

"Yes."

Shawn's father nod his head. "OK, then." he glanced at Lee's limping leg. "Well, looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."

Lee sighed. "Yeah, it's not doing so good."

"I can help you out." the father glanced at his son. "Shawn, run on in and check on your sister." he looked at Lee. "You, take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have."

Noah started looking at his cell phone, seeing if he could at least get a signal. But unfortunately, there was no success whatsoever. Everything was all fine today, until the living dead started walking on the earth as he threw his phone on the ground. So Shawn's father, Hershel allowed Noah along with Lee and Clementine to sleep in the barn tonight with the others.

"It smells like..."

"Manure? You know, shit?" Noah said, seeing Clementine stare at him with a sad look on her face. "What?"

"Swear."

"Oh, sorry." Noah apologized, forgetting that Clementine was a little girl. "Anyway, manure's when a horse that poops... and I should probably stop talking."

"I miss my mom and dad."

"I bet, Clem." Lee said

"How far is Savannah?" Clementine asked

"It's pretty far." Lee replied

"Oh. OK."

Lee, Clementine and Noah went to sleep as they needed to be well-rested. Noah kept dreaming back to his days before the outbreak. How when he was an orphan on the streets, searching for food and shelter. How he end up being taken in by a shop keeper after he saved her from being ran over by a car name Tessa. He even remembered her being like a real mother to him. But now, he wondered if she was dead or still alive. Noah knew he couldn't think of false hopes as he closed his eyes, now heading to sleep.

"Hey, wake up." said a male southern voice that woke Noah and Lee up as they opened their eyes, seeing a man in his early forties wearing a trucker hat with a mustache

"I'm itchy." Clementine said already awake

"Well you slept in a barn, little lady. You're lucky you don't have spiders in your hair." the man in the trucker hat with Clementine bug eyed looking up at her hair

"There's no spiders in your head, Clem." Noah ruffled her hat a bit before glancing at the man with the southern accent. "But I bet your daddy scared 'em all away, huh?"

Lee turned to face the man. "I'm not her dad. Name's Lee."

"I'm Kenny."

a eight year old ran in the barn. "Dad! We're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!"

Kenny sighed. "We better get going or we won't hear the end of it." he said with Lee, Clementine and Noah following Kenny

"That's my kid. Ken Junior. We call him Duck though." he stated

Noah quirking his eyebrow. "Duck?"

"Yea. Nothing bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know."

"That's a valuable trait lately." Lee said to Kenny

"No kidding." Kenny said. "But frankly, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammer."

"Dad!"

"But he makes up for it with enthuasiam." Lee remarked making their way Duck and Kenny's wife. "The word is you were on your way to Macon."

Lee smiled. "My family's from there."

"Well Macon's on the way and personally, I appreciate the company of a couple guys who can knock heads together if they have to."

"I'll see what the girl would like." Lee said

"Ah," Kenny looked at Clementine. "Gotta consult the missus. I understand. Honey, Duck, this is Lee and uh, what's your friend and the girl's name?"

"Noah. This is Clementine." Noah said to Kenny.

"That is a very pretty name." Kenny's wife said smiling

"Thanks." Clementine said, covering between Lee

"My name is Katjaa by the way."

Shawn walked toward them. "Well, we should get to work. We've seen what those things can do out there so the faster we get this fence up, the better."

"I wanna build a fence." Duck said

"Yeah?" Shawn looked at Duck. "Well, I need a foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me whenever I take a water break."

"On the tractor? Cool!"

"Duck and I will hop to it." Shawn said with him and Duck heading to the fence

"I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit." Katjaa said as Isaac went to help Shawn with the fence

"I'm gonna drive the tractor!" Duck said playfully touching the steer wheel. I'm the foreman! Lift with your back, Shawn!"

"Need a hand, Shawn?" Noah asked

"That'd be great." Shawn pointed at the two-by fours laying on two supports, with a saw on top of it. "If you could cut those two-bys length, that speed things up."

Noah went toward the support, sawing down the two-bys to their lengths. "You alright, man?" he asked Shawn

"My dad doesn't know how bad it is."

"No, he doesn't."

Shawn now had a sad look on his face. "I saw a guy in Atlanta kill a kid. A boy. Just shot him right in the face."

"Was the kid one of the walkers?" he asked Shawn

Shawn sighed. "I don't even know. He was either attacking the guy or asking for help. He didn't even hesitate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun right between the kid's eyes and pulled the trigger. You don't see things like that. It's not like in the movies."

"And they don't fall like you think either." Noah added

"Did you had to do it?"

"Do what?"

Shawn looked at Noah. "Kill. Have you had to off one yet?"

"I had to bash a girl's skull." Noah said. "She was my best friend's girlfriend. But she was one of the dead ones."

"I could shot one, if it were far maybe." Shawn replied. "I'm just glad we're getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever is out there."

"How about yours? How about your family?"

Noah sighed. "I never knew about my family truth be told. I was an orphan and I was raised by this woman that took me in. she's the only family I got, and I don't even if she's alive. I hope she is"

"Oh man, I hope so too. Maybe it's not too bad there." Shawn said to Noah as he cut last of the remaining two-bys

"That's probably all I need cut. Thanks."

"And Shawn," Noah said catching the attention of the farm boy. "Thanks again for the ride."

"No problem, Noah. Couldn't leave you guys behind." Shawn said back. "Anyway, when you see my dad around, he might want some help in the barn."

Noah caught a glimpse of Lee and Hershel walking in the barn. "Alright then."

Noah head toward the barn to see if he could help Hershel around with anything. He remembered the small notebook he had in his pocket. Noah thought he could write down survival tips since the apocalypse was happening. Then suddenly, he started hearing screaming as he turned around and ran for the direction to where the screams came from. His eyes widened when he saw four walkers. Shawn's leg was caught in the tractor as he struggled to break loose from the hold. Two on the makeshift fence, the last two trying to grab Duck on the tractor. Lee and Noah went to save Shawn while Kenny went to save his son, with Noah hitting a couple of walkers on the head with a two-by before it broke off. Shawn pleaded Kenny to help Lee and Noah, but he just ran out saving his son instead. Lee went to pull Shawn off the tractor while Noah tried to move it out of Shawn's leg. Unfortunately the fence broke off as the walkers began to feed on Shawn, killing him in the process. Before Noah could react, one of the walkers were shot in the head by Hershel along the other. Noah crushed the last walkers head on the tractor, leaving its brain now on the ground as Hershel crouched down to his son.

"I'm okay Pop... I'm okay..." Shawn said losing amount of blood

"I can fix you, don't worry, we'll stitch you up."

"It... it almost got me. Lee... Lee and Noah tried to save me."

"I know, son. I know."

"I..." Shawn trailed off, now dead as he exhale his last breath

"Jesus." Noah said as Hershel slowly glanced at Kenny

"Get out." he said back anger. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

Kenny looked down with a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry."

"SORRY?!" he yelled enraged

"Hershel..." Noah started with Hershel ignoring him

"Your son is alive. You don't get to be sorry." he glanced at Lee and Noah. "You two tried to help him, but this piece of shit let him to die."

"You can't blame Kenny." Lee said. "It's not his fault what happened."

"The hell I can't!" Hershel shouted. "You watch your back. Wait until it's your daughter and you two need his help. Please, just go. Get out and never come back." Hershel declared with a breaking tone in his voice as he kneel down crying over the lost of his son

"You've got that ride to Macon if you want it." Kenny said to Lee as he nodded his head, with everyone heading out to the pickup truck leaving the farm

`0`

After a four hour drive, they finally reached Macon. However, the entire town turned out to be deserted. No signs of life anything, practically a ghost town. Cars left and half broken, and stores completely abandoned. Noah was writing up his survival tip in his small notebook, seeing the entire town completely abandoned and deserted.

"Rule 27: Abandoned and deserted towns are a bad sign. Be on the lookout for walkers." he said writing it down as the pickup suddenly came to a stop as everyone step out. "What happened?"

"Truck's run outta gas."Kenny said as they started walking

"Look!" Duck pointed a figure in the distance, crouching down

"Hey there! You friendly? Truck's ran out of gas." Kenny shouted to the figure, with Noah's eyes slowly being wide

"Oh, shit." Noah swore as the figure turned out to be a walker. "Run!"

A walker suddenly pounced on Duck. "Aaah! No! No!"

Then all of a sudden, the walker was shot in the head with Duck now covered in walker blood. Noah and Lee saw a neck length brown haired woman wearing a white collared shirt with a black skirt. She looked to be some kind of newsreporter. There was also a Asian man with a cap on his head

"RUN!" he yelled as everyone went inside the drugstore, locking the entrance shut

"Thanks." Noah said

"No problem." the newswoman said out of breath

"We can't take risks like this!" said a shoulder length brown haired woman in her mid twenties to early thirties glaring at the reported

"And we can't just let people die, either." the female reporter said shooting back a glare at the shoulder length haired woman

"When I SAY that door stays shut no matter what, I fucking meant it. We don't know who these people are. They could be dangerous!"

"Or worse, they could've leaded them right to us!" said a man in his fifties

the female reporter placed one hand on her hip glaring at the middle aged man. "Where the hell is your humanity? They would have out there!"

"We got kids with us, man." Noah stated, folding his arms while he glared straight at the middle aged man

"I see one little girl." he stated with Clementine pulling on Noah's shirt

"What is it, kid?" he whispered

"I... I have to pee." she said

"In a minute, Clem." he replied

"They got kids, Lily." said the Asian man with a baseball that had a S and W

"Those things outside don't care." Lily said to the Asian man with the cap

"Maybe you should go join 'em, then." Kenny spat out. "You'll have something in common!"

"God dammit, Lily! You have to control these people."

"Carley and Glenn just ran out there." she said giving her father a hard stare

"I don't give a flying fuck. We're in a warzone!"

"She's the leader here." Lee said to Kenny and Noah. "But it looks like she's losing control of her people."

Lily glared straight at Lee. "If you were in my shoes you'd be-"

"Holy shit. Son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!" the middle aged man said wide eyed seeing Duck covered in blood while Katjaa was wiping the blood of him with a wet towel

"He wasn't bitten." Lee stated

"Hell he wasn't!" the middle aged man headed for Duck. "We have to end this now."

Kenny stood in front of the middle aged man, shoving in a glare. "Over my dead body."

"We'll dug one hole."

"No! I'm cleaning him up! There's no bite! He's fine!"

"Don't you fucking people get it?!" the middle aged man yelled. "We've already seen this happen. We let someone in with a bite stay and-and we all up bitten."

"Shut up." Kenny growled

"We got to throw him out! Or smash his face in!"

"Kenny! Stop him!"

"Guys, what do we do about this guy?"

"It's either him or your son. I'd say it's him."

"I agree with Lee on this one."

"Goddamn right; out on his ass with those things." Kenny said in complete agree

"Everyone CHILL THE FUCK OUT!" the reporter yelled, trying to detain the situation

"Nobody is doing ANYTHING."

"Shut up, Lily!" the middle aged man glare at the female reporter. "And you, shut the fuck up! They will find us, they will get in and none of this won't fucking matter." he glared at Kenny. "And now we're about to the trapped here with one of those things."

"The fuck you talking about, old man?" Noah said glaring at the middle aged man

"He's bitten! That's how you turn!"

"He's not bitten! Lee, stop this! It's upsetting him!" Katjaa replied

"Oh? It's upsetting him getting eaten alive?"

"For christ sake, man. This is his son!" Noah stated

"Look around, dumbass. I got a daughter in here." he pointed at Lee. "He's got a daughter in here. Get your head out of your ass, boy?"

Noah glared at the middle aged man name Larry. "What the fuck did you just say, old timer?"

Lee glared at Larry. "We've all got people in here and we can figure this out without killing anything. There's another way."

"Yeah, with a shovel."

"I'm gonna kill him, Kat! Just worry about Duck."

"Lee?" Clementine called out

"Yeah?" he said staring at Clementine

"Someone's in there."

"It's probably locked. Key's are by the counter, maybe."

"I'm not the bad guy here! I'm just looking after my daughter!" Larry exclaimed

"No, you're just the asshole arguing to kill a kid." Noah muttered in sarcasm

"He's covered in muck." Larry snarled. "She'll find the bite. Watch!"

"She won't."

"And if she does, the first thing he's going to do is sink his teeth on his mom's face."

Noah folded his arms keeping a straight face. "Well, deal with it then."

"The hell I will! We're tossing him out now!"

All of a sudden, Noah started to get a bad feeling from something. Something that was overlooked. He heard Clementine mention someone was inside the restroom. And that's when everyone especially Noah heard a scream from Clementine as a walker tried to grab her. Lee and Noah ran to save Clementine as Noah bashed the walker's head toward a cabinet, with it pouncing on him. He grabbed his chin and jaw in order to prevent it from biting him. Fortunately, Lee managed to grab the walker from behind as the reporter shot the walker in the head.

"You ok?" she asked Lee

"Just great, thanks." he replied as Noah stumped his foot on the dead walker's head, making sure it was still dead

Noah pulled out his notebook, writing down another survival tip. "Just like Rule 2: Beware of Bathrooms. Rule 28: Remain caution of walkers in abandoned places and stores." he said hearing banging noise outside, leaving to believe the walkers heard the gunshot. "Everyone get down and stay quiet."

"They're getting to get in!" Larry whispered

"SHUT UP." Kenny whispered back as they heard more gunshots leading the walkers away from the drugstore

"Is that the military?"

"Whatever it is, it's keeping those walkers busy."

Carley quirked her eyebrow at Noah. "Walkers?"

"That's what I call the dead now." he explained

Doug the camera man looked at Noah. "You mean the zombies out there, right?"

Noah glanced at him with a annoyed look on his face. "Don't say it."

"What?"

"That."

"What?"

"That. The Z word. Don't say it."

"Why not?"

"Because it's ridiculous."

"We almost die because of this bitch's itchy trigger finger! That was stupid! That was-" Larry then suddenly collapsed with his hand on his chest.

"Dad!" Lily ran toward her downed father

"What the hell's wrong with him?"

"It's his heart."

"My pills..." Larry trailed off

"Nitroglycerin pills?"

"Yes. We're out. We've been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here!" Lily glanced at Lee. "Please try to get in there."

"There's probably another entrance. Maybe through the office."

Carley placed a hand on her hip, staring at Lee. "How do you know there's an office?"

"Educated guess." he shrugged

"It doesn't matter. We need nitroglycerin pills." Lily said looking at Lee and Noah. "Please get in there. I'll keep an eye on my dad."

Kenny decided to take command of the group. Doug was a lookout outside, while Carley was looking for a way to get the radio working. Katjaa finished wiping off the blood that covered Duck as Kenny needed Glenn to find gas, while Noah was browsing around anything to eat in the drugstore. A candy bar, chips, energy drink. Anything he could find. Fortunately, he stumbled upon seeing a energy bar by the counter but decided to give it to Clementine. After Lee helped Carley fix the radio once he found the batteries, reports were getting bad with the minute. No good news from Atlanta, the same going for Jonesboro as Noah rubbed his eyebrows in frustration. Everyone was being told to stay indoors and avoid contact with anyone exposed. During the remainder of the time, Lee and Clementine went inside to find anything. Noah then followed Carley to the office where they were as they step inside the office, with Noah ruffling Clementine's hair.

"Find anything?"

"It's a photo of the family who owned this place." Lee stated. "Might help us track down where the keys to the office."

"I know who you are." Noah glanced at Carley and Lee. "You're Lee Everett. You're a professor at Athens who killed a state senator who was sleeping with your wife." Noah and Clementine looked at Lee. "This is your parents' store; folks around town know the owner's son got into a life sentence, but I'm a reporter WABE in Atlanta. I paid attention to that trail. Maybe you're a murderer. But I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that might come in handy."

"Hmmph." Lee grunted with his arms folded

"Did you tell anyone out there who you were, that you were tied to this place?" Carley asked Lee

"No. I've been sticking with first names for a reason." he said looking away for a moment

Carley then showed a sympathetic look."You seem like an okay guy, and the last thing we need is drama out there. You got this little girl to take care of and look..." she paused narrowing her eyes. "Don't me wrong on this."

"I don't plan to."

"Good. Because of this last longer than a few days and you're a detriment to the group, then we'd have a problem."

"I hear you."

"I'll just keep it to myself."

"Me too." Noah said with Lee and Carley glancing at him

"Noah-" Noah cut him off by motioning his hand

"Save it." he said. "You could've kill me if you wanted to, but you didn't. Besides, you don't look like the homicidal killer type to begin with."

"Uh, thanks... I guess."

"Don't mention." Noah said now preparing to leave the office. "One other thing. We got a hold of Glenn. He's got enough gas for us, but he trapped at a motor-inn hotel when he saw a chance to get some supplies. Kenny wants you go help him out and take someone with you."

"I'll go with him." Carley glanced at Lee. "You might need someone watching your back."

"Appreciate it." he said to Carley as he looked at Clementine. "Clem, Carley and I are going to get Glenn. Can you stay with here Noah?"

Clementine nodded her head. "Okay." Lee was about to leave when... "Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not bad right? Carley said you killed someone. Was that because he was one of things trying to eat you?"

Lee showed a saddened look. "No, he wasn't."

"Oh. Was he bad?" Clementine asked as Noah and Carley glanced at Lee

"He was." Lee answered back as him and Carley left out back

"Noah. Get over here." Kenny yelled as him and Clementine step out of the office, with Noah heading toward Kenny. "I need you to help Doug on the lookout. It's your turn."

"Alright." Noah walked toward Doug. "What's going on out there, Doug?"

"Nothing. I can't see anything. Want to step outside and take a look?"

Noah nodded his head. "As long as that gate's closed, yeah. We need to know what the hell is going on outside."

Noah and Doug step outside, leaving the door slowly closed in order to not make any noise. Once they step outside, there were walkers scurrying around like parasites during the night out. Some were moving while other walkers were feeding on anything in their path. They were seeing hell itself right in front of him, with Doug trying to hold his vomit.

"I think I'm going to be sick."

"These fuckers are just... eating." Noah said in shock. "Like animals."

"I think it might be couple of days before all of this is sorted out."

"I somehow doubt it." Noah replied. "Anyway, we need to keep it down. We don't want them to know we're here. Any idea where those pharmacy keys might be?"

"We searched everywhere for them before you guys came. They weren't on the dead old couple we threw out either."

"If the keys aren't in the drugstore, think they could be out..." Noah paused when he noticed a walker in pharmacist clothes trapped by a downed pole. "Here. I think they're on that walker over there." he stated pointing at the walker pharmacist to let Doug know where the location of the walker was. "But no chance in hell getting past those walkers." Noah also spotted a electronics store. "That store over there has TVs and electronics. Maybe we could that to our advantage. Use this remote and get their attention by turning on those TVs."

"Good thing you batteries then." Doug joked as he use the remote to turn on the TVs, while he throw a brick toward the store window. As expected, the walkers started making way toward the TVs. "They're distracted. Go." he said as Noah quickly walked by toward the trapped pharmacist walker, noticing a tag that said Bobby Everett

"Shit. This is Lee's brother." he said crouching down as he pulled out his knife. "Probably got caught when the outbreak came here."

"You got them yet?" Doug whispered loudly to Noah

"Give me a second, man." he whispered back while he looked at the pharmacist walker who turned out to be Lee's brother. "I better get back to it, then." Noah then lunged his survivalist knife inside the walker's eye, digging it deeper as impacted on the brain. He stabbed it twice in the forehead, just in case it wasn't dead yet as blood spilled out leaving a piece of brain on the blade. "Brain's dead." he picked up the keys from its pocket, while wiping the knife on the walker's clothes as he quickly ran back to the gate as Doug closed. "Got it. Now let's get inside."

As they were inside, they saw that Lee, Carley and Glenn made it back. Lily was still keeping an eye on her father, Larry while Kenny was with Katjaa and Duck. Lee and Carley made their way to Noah and Doug.

"We get the keys." Doug stated. "We can get in the pharmacy now."

"Alright then." Noah gave Lee the keys as he went toward Lily, while the two of them heading for the pharmacy with Kenny making his way toward them

"We got enough fuel. How's things on your end?"

"Doug and me find the keys. Hopefully, Lee and Lily get medical supplies along the way. And we can leave here without walkers ever-" Noah was cut off when a alarm bell ran. "noticing. Shit, that's going to lead walkers here!"

Carley was loading her gun while Kenny to go get his pickup, with Lee giving him an ax. Katjaa and Duck went in the office to barricade it. Glenn, Carley and Doug were covering the door, barricading so walkers wouldn't get through. Glenn went to help Katjaa while Lee and Noah helped Carley and Doug barricade the door as more walkers kept barging in.

"Hey, Noah... Lee... if we don't know make it through this, you should know that I think your great guys."

"Shut up, Doug." Noah said. "We're making it through this."

"Doug, if we don't make it you should-" Carley was cut off when a walker was barging through, only for Lee and Carley to slam the door on it

"I should what?"

"Huh?!"

"You said I should-" a couple of walkers broke through the window as Carley shot two of them in the head.

"Clementine, could you find something to stick-in between the handles? Something strong?"

"Ok!" she said looking around anything that would hold the door

"God damn it!" Noah swore blocking the door from walkers. "Clem, find anything yet?!"

"Nothing! Oh wait!" Clementine went left as she found something nearby

"That window's screwed!"

"Go! We'll hold the door!" Lee said as him and Noah barricade the door while Doug went to cover the window left of them. That's when Clementine ran toward Lee and Noah with a cane in her hands

"I found something!"

"Thanks, Clem!" Noah exclaimed as he used the cane to block the handles, leaving the door covered

"NO! AAAH!" Doug yelled with two walkers

"SHIT! I'm out!" Carley yelled as a walker had its hand on her leg. "Lee! Help! Ammo in my purse!"

"Lee, go help Carley! I got Doug!" Noah shouted as he ran toward him, stabbing the heads of the walkers trapping him while Carley shot another walker along with the one that grabbed her leg. "Everyone, move it out! We're getting the fuck out of here!" he yelled as him and Doug ran through the office and out the back. Carley made it out also, but Lee and Clementine didn't until Larry ran off grabbing Clementine. "Where's Lee?"

"Leave him!"

"Fuck that! Come on, Noah!" Kenny and Noah make their way back to the drugstore as Kenny lunged the ax at a walker crawling toward Lee, with Noah pulling him up off the ground. "I'm not letting someone else get eaten today. Especially a good friend." Kenny and Lee ran out with Noah slamming the door closed shut

`0`

The group were now at the Travelier motor-inn hotel, with Lily, Doug and Noah throwing walker bodies on the pile of dead ones. Doug spewed some gasoline on the corpse as they lit them on fire, incenerating the corpses. Glenn left a few minutes ago, heading toward his friends trapped in Atlanta. Kenny was with Katjaa while Larry was all of a sudden talking to Lee. Clementine was leaning on the RV as Duck was talking with her. Doug went off to talk with Carley as Noah pulled his notebook off his pocket, staring at his survival tips before he set it back in his pocket. And at that moment, Noah knew this was only just the beginning


	2. Starved to Help

Chapter 2: Starved for help

Three months later...

Noah and Kenny were searching for food, while Lee and Mark split up to do the same. After they found Mark in a overrun air force base and saved, along with getting three months of food to last them. But unfortunately, that food ran a couple of days ago. Noah and Kenny weren't having some much luck with finding food as they stumbled upon a walker eating the corpse of a deer, leaving Noah to stab his knife at the back of its head. The deer was torn apart, it's guts spread out on the ground with dripping blood.

"God damn it!" Kenny swore kicking the walker's corpse. "We were so fuckin' close."

"I feel you, man." Noah agreed, nodding his head as they searched ahead. "This sucks donkey balls already. I can't believe we ate all that food from the air force base."

"You and me both, kid." Kenny replied. "And to be honest, I don't know what the hell we're going to do. I'm wondering if we have any food left back at the motor-inn."

"Me too." Noah sighed, scratching the back of his head. "I kept hearing Doug mentioned his favorite dessert causing to be hungry and I felt Carley was about to kill Mark when he accidently grab her share of the food."

"Yeah, well, I blame Lily for this shit." Kenny groused

"We can't do nothing about it anyway. We're too damn hungry to even better." Noah scoffed glancing left and right. "Hopefully, we'll find something to-" Noah was cut off when he heard a scream

Noah looking at the direction of where the scream was coming from. "Where the fuck did that come from?" Kenny asked

"I have no idea. Let's go find where it's coming from. Come on!"

Noah and Kenny as fast as they could to the direction of the scream, hearing it again as they were closer. They found Lee and Mark standing over a man with his foot caught in a bear trap, but he wasn't alone. There were also two high school students, one with brown hair and another with dark hair wearing lettermen jackets.

"Lee! You guys okay?" Kenny and Noah turned to face the two high schoolers

"Get it off! Get it off! God dammit, get it off of me!" the man with the trapped foot panicked

"Travis, maybe that can help!"

the one named Travis looked bug eyed in fear. "These might be the same guys that raided our camp! And we got away from that!"

"Who raided your camp?" Lee asked the two high eighteen year olds

"Guys with guns! I don't know!"

"Please! We won't bother you I swear!"

"Lee, this is fucked up. We got help 'em."

"Maybe they could help."

Travis glared at his friend. "Shut up, Ben! My father was Special Forces, I know what I'm doing."

"Just see if you can get him out! After that you could leave us or whatever!" Ben said, pleading as walkers started to appear

"Mark, cover these boys!" Lee ordered standing in front of the bear trapped man. "Kenny, Noah keep those walkers off of me!"

Noah brought out a K-BAR knife he took from the air force base when they found Mark along with his survivalist knife, stabbing the first walker in the head to come near them while Mark and Kenny were shooting off incoming walkers. He kicked the next walker coming toward him, impaling his knives on its eyes killing it. There were more walkers coming closer and closer, leaving Noah to pull out his pistol as he shot two walkers in the head. He shot four more walkers along the way, then stabbing one in the head as Noah slammed it down on the ground. Noah suddenly heard screaming as he saw Lee was cutting the man's leg off in order to free. He shot more walkers in the head in precise accurany as he went for his pocket, bringing out a pistol magazine as he ejected the empty one from the load of his gun. Noah quickly glanced back to see Lee had manage to chop out the man's leg, freeing him from the bear trap as blood began gushing out.

"If he's alive, grab him and let's go!" Kenny said as him and Mark carrying the teacher on his shoulders ran

"Behind you!" Lee shouted as Travis was behind them

"Son of a bitch!" Noah swore kicking the walker behind Travis as Noah grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. "Special Forces, my ass! You are an amateur, a fucking amateur! Now, run. Run!" he yelled, with him and Travis running toward the others as they fled from the walkers

`0`

Lee and the others made it back to the motor-inn as Noah opened the gate, leaving Kenny, Mark carrying the teacher along with Lee, Ben and Travis in. Mark laid the unconscious teacher on the back of the truck, with Kenny letting Katjaa to check up on him. Noah closed the gate behind him as Clementine hugged him, ruffling her hair a little with a smile on his face. Unfornately that smile faded as he saw Lily having a pissed off look.

"What the hell?! You can't just be bringing in new people here! What are you thinking?"

Kenny jumped in. "You wanna calm down for a fucking minute!"

"Hey, watch your mouth!" Larry glared pointing at Kenny

"No, I don't!" Lily snarled at Kenny, now glaring at Lee and Noah. "I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed here was a good idea?!"

"He would've died if we left him there." Noah growled

"So what?" Larry shrugged

"We are NOT responsible for every struggling survivor we come across! We have to focus on our group!" she raised a finger in the air. "Right here. Right now."

"Well, hang on!" everyone turned to look at Carley. "We haven't even talked to these people yet! Maybe they can be helpless!"

"Carley's right. These guys could be a big help." Doug said agreeing with Carley

"Come on Lily, these are people! People trying to survive just like us. We got to stick together." Mark stated

Lily looked at Mark with a stare. "The only reason you're here is because you had food. Food to last all of us. But that food is almost gone, we've got maybe a week's worth life." she glared at Ben and Travis. "And I don't suppose you two aren't carrying groceries, are you?!"

"No." Ben said deadpanned with Travis shaking his head in a no

Mark sighed. "Fine. You guys fight it out, then." he glanced at Ben and Travis leaving the scene. "Welcome to the family, boys."

"Come over here and see what I drew." Clementine said pulling Ben away from the confrontation

"What? N-" Travis cut Ben off

"Come on, Ben." he said with him and Ben following Clementine

Kenny walked up to Lily with a glare on his face. "You know, you like to think you're the leader of this little group but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn't your own personal dictatorship!"

Noah sighed loudly with an annoyed look. "Christ, you two are being fucking dramatic again!" Kenny and Lily glared at him. "I'm serious! It's always has to be a goddamn power struggle with you and I don't want any to do with this shit."

"Yeah, we're with Noah on this." Carley said as her and Doug left Kenny and Lily to have their confrontation. She tapped Noah's shoulder, with him looking over his shoulder. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just annoyed with those two." Noah sat on a bench watching Clementine and Duck to draw, getting a glance at Larry and Mark working on the fence. "I feel like I'd rather be in charge."

"You know they'll keep going at each other throats as always." Doug hinted Noah with as he stared at Lee giving Mark one of the rations. "Huh. Looks like Lee's giving out the rations today. Do you guys know what Larry's problem with Lee?"

Noah looked away, staring at the picture of his adopted mother. "I don't know. Maybe he's just some old racist asshole. Maybe he's paranoid or something." Carley glanced at him as she saw Lee make his way toward them. "I'm gonna go rest my eyes for a bit. If anyone needs me, I'll be laying on the couch." Noah got up and laid on the couch, resting his eyes. A shadow suddenly stood in front of his face as he opened one eye to see it was Clementine. "S'up, Clem?"

"Have you seen my hat?" she asked as Noah noticed she didn't have her hat lately

"Come to think of it, I haven't." he got up from the couch. "But if me or Lee find it, we'll give it back to you."

Clementine smiled. "Thanks, Noah." Clementine went back to draw while Noah walked toward Larry and Mark

"You need to talk to Lily about getting along with Kenny."

"Lily can make her own friends."

Noah furrowed his eyebrows. "This ain't about making friends, asshole. It's about surviving together."

"Eh, stuff all that. We'd be fine without you."

Noah folded his arms. "So, you're agreeing to throw the people we brought in out on their asses?"

"Damn right. That's too many people hanging around here as it is."

Noah walked away in disgust. "One day that old man's going to get his ass killed by a heart attack." he muttered

"Ken! Noah! Lee! Come here, please." Katjaa shouted

"He didn't make it, did he?" Kenny said

"He lost too much blood." she stated sadly

"God dammit!" Kenny swore walking away as he throw the lead pipe on the ground. "I'm getting sick of this shit."

"Ken. Com-" Noah cut her off

"Let him go, Katjaa."

"But..."

"Noah's right. He just needs time." Lee said

"That man you brought..." Katjaa looked away. "I tried, but he was never going to survive."

"At least he's not our problem anymore." Lee said as Katjaa glanced at Ben and Travis

"What about those two?" she asked

Before she could say anything, the teacher was turned to a walker as it grabbed Katjaa from behind. Lee and Noah were pulling the walker off of her, with Noah getting Katjaa to safety but Lee was caught back it. Noah ran to go get his K-BAR as he saw Mark trying to kill it with the axe, but failed as it hit back window of the truck. Lee crawled back with the walker trying to feed off him, only for Carley to shoot it in the head as the walker was now dead.

Carley crouched down toward Lee. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Lee answered thanking Carley as Noah went to check for a bite mark, but what surprised was there wasn't any whatsoever

"What the hell..." Noah trailed off, widened eyes filled with shock

"Why'd ya let him in the first place, asshole!" Larry yelled blaming Lee

"Larry, shut it!" Noah shouted standing up

"You're gonna get us all killed!" Larry growled walking away as Ben and Travis made their way toward the group

Kenny glared at the two high school kids and walked toward them. "Why didn't you two tell us he was bitten?!"

"What?" Ben said confused

"He was bitten and you didn't say a goddamn word!"

"He's wasn't bitten. We're telling the truth!" Travis exclaimed

"They're right, Kenny. There's no bite mark on this walker." Noah stated

"Well, their unbitten friend here came back to life and tried to kill my wife!" Kenny replied angrily

"What are you..." Travis paused and stared at the group. "You all don't know, do you?"

Kenny had a agitated look on his face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Travis and Ben looked at the group as Ben was the first to speak. "It's not the bite that does it. You come back no matter how you die."

"If you don't destroy the brain, that's what'll happen. It's gonna happen to all of us." Travis stated

Lee eyes went wide along with everyone else. "We're all infected? All of us?"

"We think so." Travis replied

"One of the cheerleaders, Jenny Pitcher took a turn for the worse and killed herself taking a lot of pills."

Travis step in looking down. "When someone heard screaming and went in the girls locker room... God. It was... it was a bloodbath."

"Back off!" everyone looked at Carley pointing her gun at a couple of men, brothers maybe

One of them spoke up. "Whoa, lady, relax! Me and my brother, we were just wonderin' if you could help us out."

"I said back off!" Carley kept her gun pointed at them with Lily making her way toward her

"Carley..." she trailed off, moving Carley's gun

"We don't want any trouble." Lee stated

"Of course. Neither do we. I'm Andy St. John." said person pointed his thumb at his brother. "This is my brother. We're just out looking for gasoline. Looks like you folks got the motel locked down, which is fine. But if you could spare some gas, we'd be much obliged."

"Why do you need gas?" Noah folded his arms giving the two a hard stare

Dan spoke out. "Our place is protected by an electric fence. Generators provide the electricity... so our generator run on gas."

"Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road. If ya'll be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade." Andy suggested

"How are ya'll on food?" Dan asked. "We got plenty at the dairy."

Lily glanced at Lee. "Lee, why don't you and Mark go see with them to see if the place is legit?"

Carley put her gun in the pocket of her purple overcoated vest. "I'm going with you. I got your back if anything seems fishy."

"I'm going to." Noah said taking his pistol and two knives, grabbing his white jacket

"So what are ya'll thinking?" Andy said, wondering what their decision was

"We got a deal." Noah answered

"We'll bring some gas to your dairy. In exchange, you give us some food to bring back." Lee stated. "We'll see how it goes from there."

`0`

Lee, Carley, Noah and Mark along with Ben and Travis followed Andy and his brother to their family's farm. Noah looked to see Mark talking with Andy and Dan, while moved back toward Lee and Carley's conversation. She was asking did anyone know about his past, unfornately Larry knew about it. It was bad enough that Larry was a pompous ass, but knowing Lee was a convicted killer was going to be a pain in his ass. Clementine already knew when she and Noah heard Lee and Carley back at the drugstore.

"So why don't you tell us about yourself, Lee?" Andy asked glancing at him while leading the group to the farm. "Where ya from?"

"I moved around a lot. Hard to call anyplace home I guess."

"I use to move around myself. But the dairy will always be home." Dan said

"Ya'll seem pretty settled in that motor-inn. Who's runnin' the show?"

"I am." Noah said jokingly, leaving Carley and Lee to give him an annoyed look. "What? I am."

Lee glanced at Andy. "He's kidding. We work as a group, all of us looking out for each other."

"I hear that! There are so many dumbasses out there fighting each other these days..." Andy glanced at Lee. "It's just stupid."

"We got enough people to defend ourselves."

"Well that's good. It's getting dangerous out there, well, you guys know." Andy said. "We'd love to get ya all out on the dairy. Like I said, we've got plently of food, and quite frankly, we could always use a extra helping hand."

`0`

After a close call with a couple of bandits, leaving one to kill the other as the group made it to the St. John dairy farm. The place was untouchable it seemed, it can make anyone figure the apocalypse was happening. Lee and the others were introduced to Andy and Dan's mother, Brenda who welcomed peacefully. She even gave them home-made biscuits, which they took graciously before Carley went back to the motor-inn with Ben and Travis following. Lee, Noah and Mark stayed behind to help around the perimeter. To move off any walkers stuck on the fence or knocking over a post. For that moment, everything seemed well, until the fence turned on along with Mark being shot in the shoulder by an arrow. They used a tractor for cover from the arrows, managing to make their way back to the dairy. Andy noticed a arrow on Mark's shoulder, eyes wide.

"Lee, what happen?"

"It was a goddamn ambush out there!" Noah said in a freaked out tone. "Damn bandits tried to get the jump on us!" Noah pulled off the arrow on Mark's shoulder

"Bandits!? Here?! On our property?!" Noah noticed the group arrived except Carley, Doug, Ben and Travis

"Hey ya'll!"

"Mark! Oh my god, what happened?!" Katjaa said in shock

"Mark was shot by a arrow."

"Christ! Are you going to be okay?" Lily asked in a somewhat worried tone

"Yeah, I'm fine. Noah pulled it out for me."

"C'mon, inside now honey. We'll have you all sort out."

"What kind of shit is this?" Larry said in a not angered, but worried which surprised Noah

"We ran into some bandits."

"They gave us a lot of problems in the beginning. Killed a bunch of our farmhands. We were able to get them to stop by makin' a deal." Andy explained, with Kenny narrowing his eyes at him

"You KNEW about these people?"

"Food for protection. They didn't hassle us after that."

"Goddammit! Carley said this place was locked down tight!"

"It was just a fluke. We can't keep assuming there's bad people out there." Noah stated folding his arms

Lily glared at Noah. "What the hell do you mean a fluke?"

"You know what I mean." he scoffed. "It could've happen anywhere. It could have happened to us in the motor-inn."

"Listen we may have had an arrangement with those people, but we will not stand for this."

"Ain't no way we gonna let those sons of bitches get away with this!"

Kenny glanced the St. John brothers. "You know where these assholes are?"

"I know where at least ONE of their camps are." Dan glanced at Lee. "When you're ready to scoop out that bandit camp, let me know."

Lily place a hand on her hip. "Bandits? Are you serious? This place isn't safe, we can't stay here."

"Not safe?!" Kenny glared at Lily. "This place is a helluva lot safer than motor-inn. I think all of us and our guns can handle a couple of punks with bows and arrows!" he glanced at Lee and Noah. "What we need to do is find a way to get our whole group out here to stay. Take this place over if we have to."

"Cool your jets there, Rambo. These are nice people." Larry stated. "Let's not get ourselves thrown out before we eat."

"I'm gonna help Dan deal with these bandits." Lee said. "You guys should try to make friends with Andy and Brenda while I'm gone."

Larry shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that's easy. I got charm coming out of my ass."

"For fuck's sake man..." Noah moved away, taking a nap on a bench near the barnhouse as he laid back. "Now, to laid down and relax."

So far, Noah couldn't have a pleasant nap on the bench. Mainly between Kenny and Lily arguing again as always. Kenny wanted to look around, feeling that the St. John's were hiding something. Lily on the other hand didn't want to cause any trouble, especially since Kenny was making this worse for her. Luckily, Lee and Dan came back to the diary but Noah noticed he had a doubting look on his face as he walked toward him.

"Lee, you found them?"

"Only one." Lee stated, staring at Lily as Kenny was now heading inside the barn. "What's going on with Lily and Kenny?"

"I have not fucking idea, man." Noah replied. "Kenny says these people are hiding something. Lily just wants to go the hell out of here. You got to talk with both of them on that."

"I'll see what I can do."

After what Kenny told him and Lee, Noah started to get a terrible vibe. When he was in the barn, he noticed a blood stain a locked door. Which was weird on his part since this was a dairy farm, instead of a ranch farm. Once the dinner bell rung, everyone except Lee and Noah used the multi-tool to loosen the screws on the door. Leaving the door wide open, Noah and Lee had shocked looks on their faces. Inside was a slaughter room, with blood spilled and laying a bath along with a saw and other tools like a sickle and a double hook. Noah left before Andy showed by. He went inside the house, throwing up on the toilet. He didn't know what the hell he saw, but it somehow made him sick.

"Hey, you alright?" Noah looked back and saw it was Lily. "Noah."

"I'm... I'm fine. I'm just shaken."

Brenda setted up dinner as everyone including Lee and Noah, who decided to wash up before eating. But before either of them could, Noah spotted a cord going up the stairs as he followed where the trail laid. Once upstairs, Lee searched the closet as he spotted morphine, musty towels and medical waste laying around. He also spotted a the end of the cord and a plug, placing both of them in while Noah checked the room Mark was suppose to be resting at. But there was no sign of Mark, with Noah seeing a blood stain on the floor. He noticed a light shining below that bookcase he and Lee moved it out of the way, with Noah slowly opening the door. As soon as it was opened, Lee and Noah's eyes were wide with shock. They see Mark lying in a floor of his own blood, with no legs.

"Lee... Noah... help me."

"Jesus christ! Mark, what the fuck happened to your legs?"

"Brothers..." he said weakly after losing a amount of blood. "Don't... eat... dinner..."

Noah and Lee moved down and rushed down the steps, quickly making their way to the dining room. Their eyes widened when they saw everyone including Clementine was about to eat a piece of Mark's legs.

"DON'T EAT THAT!" Lee yelled, causing everyone to be startled

"Lee, you and Noah alright man?"

Larry grunted. "Seat your asses down, you idiots. This lady's here made you a meal."

Lily quirked her eyebrows at Noah and Lee. "What's gotten into you two?"

"Mark is upstairs with his fucking legs cut off! For fuck's sake, you're eating him!" Noah shouted, shocking everyone except Dan who kept eating human meat.

"We need to get the kids, everyone out of here. We need to go. NOW." Lee declared

"Everything coulda turned out better for you folks." Dan said taking a bite of Mark's leg

"He woulda died anyway! We gotta think about livin'!" Andy exclaimed, trying to make an excuse

Noah glared pointing at Andy. "He was shot in the shoulder with a arrow! He would've lived from that!"

"Settle down, honey." Brenda said with a stern look. "Growing up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It was how I was raised and how I raised my boys." everyone's expressions were shocked. "Now, you've got monster roaming around doing nothing eating people up. And for what? To continue rotting and eat some more. And it's true, you go after folks who were gonna die anyway. One way or another."

"Just let us go." Lee pleaded

Dan took a final bite and glanced at the group. "Like ya'll."

"Kenny, grab your gun!" Noah yelled out. "Lily, get a knife

Before Kenny could get his gun and Lily could strike with a steak knife, Andy held everyone at gunpoint along with Dan. Kenny and Lily were shouting them, telling them to let go of everyone. That's when Andy grabbed Clementine by her hair.

"Let her go, you fucker!" Noah shouted with Dan keeping the gun on him and Lee, only to hear rumbling sounds from the stairs as Noah and Lee's eyes were wide seeing who it was

"Please..." that voice was Mark. "Someone...!" he crawled with his bloodied legs laying on the floor as the group's eyes went wide with shock and horror

"Clementi-" Noah and Lee were cut off when Dan hit their heads with the butt of his rifle

Noah could hear yelling and banging, with his eyes slowly opening up as he was trapped in a room with Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Lily and Larry. Judging by the coldness he was feeling right now, they were locked in a meat room. There was no sign of Katjaa and Duck which meant they could be held up in the St. John farmhouse. Noah got up and looking at his surroundings, seeing if there was a way out of the room as he stood up. He looked over by the pallets, seeing there was no passage way. That's when he spotted the AC conditioner, feeling there could be a way out glancing at Larry.

"You got a coin, Larry?"

"What for?" he growled glaring at Noah

"I may have found a way out of-"

"Your mess?" Larry glared at Lee. "And his?!"

"What do you mean our mess?"

"We were all fine until you and that asshole mention we were eating human meat! It's all your fault!"

"Fuck you, you old pain in the ass!" he pointed at Larry with an angry look on his face. "None of this was my fault. Neither is it Lee's. Now give me a goddamn coin so we can get the fuck out of here!"

Larry sighed angrily as he threw a quarter his direction, with Noah catching it. "Take it. With all the good that'll do."

Noah unscrewed the first screw on top, going on left to loosen it up along with the other two as he made his way to the final one. After getting the last screw as it hit the floor, Noah and Lee moved the AC away from them. But it was too small for any of them, except for one as Noah glanced at Clementine.

"Clementine, think you could fit in there?"

"I think so." she guessed as Lee lifted her up, with Clementine crawling through even with Larry banging on the door

"Open this goddamn door...!"

"Dad stop...!"

"Aarggh!" Larry had his hand on his chest. "Oh god... hrrgggkkk..." he fell on the floor, collapsed as Lily crouched down with a worried look on her face-to-face

"Dad?! DAD!" she yelled as Clementine opened the door

"What did you see, Clem?" Noah asked

"There's a man outside." she glanced down at Larry bug eyed. "What happened?"

Noah glanced at the downed Larry as he placed two fingers on Larry's neck, checking his pulse. "He's dead."

"He's not dead." Lily said giving him CPR as Lee crouched down checking his pulse, giving Kenny a indication that he's dead and would possibly come back as a walker

"If he's dead..."

"He's not DEAD!"

"Lee, you and Noah saw what happened to that poor bastard back on the motor-inn. How fast he turned. And in a few minutes, we're going to have a 6'4 300 pound seriously pissed off dead guy!"

"Fuck you, he's not dead. Lee!"

"Lily, me and Noah checked his pulse." Lee looked down while Kenny grabbed a sickle from the blood covered table. "He's dead, and it's only a matter of time until he'll come back to kill us."

"We'll lock the door and leave him there." Noah glanced at Clementine as he grabbed a cattle prod, while Lee took a double hook as a weapon after Kenny locked the door. "Clem, we need you to be there for Lily. We're going to deal with that guy waiting outside."

"Okay."

Lee, Noah and Kenny moved quietly to avoid detection from Andy or Dan as Lee went up first, along with Kenny and Noah. They hid to the first stable near them as Andy told Dan to be on the lookout keeping an eye on things, with Lee taking a peek seeing Dan was nowhere to be seen. Noah decided to take a look as he saw a barrel pointing at him, pointing it away as he struck Dan with the cattle prod along with a kick to the groin. Kenny ran on ahead to save Duck and Katjaa, while Lee stabbed Dan's shoulder with the double hook as Noah motioned Lee to go ahead to help Kenny. Noah pushed Dan down a hay stack, landing his foot on a bear trap as it snapped catching his foot. He then heard sobbing as he turned around, seeing it was Lily with Clementine covering behind him. His eyes widened to see Larry was now turned into a walker, grabbing Lily's waist as him and Clementine carrying the sniper rifle closed the barn door behind him. They could hear Dan's screams being yelled out as he was being devoured by the dead Larry as Noah quickly open as he shot both of them in the head. They suddenly saw Andy trying to kill Lee with Lee taking the rifle, shooting Andy's shoulder in the process while Lee started landing blows across his face. That's when they noticed Carley and Doug came with Ben and Travis, leaving Katjaa to give them their stuff.

"It's over!"

Andy slowly stood up, with bruised cheeks and swollen black eyes. "Fuck you. As soon as Dan and Mama get here, you're all fucked!"

"They're both dead." Noah shouted to Andy

Andy St. John's swollen eyes were wide with shock. "What the fuck do you mean? What the fuck did you do?!" he yelled as Lee walked back to the group. "LEEEE! Get back here and finish this, Lee!"

"Let's go." Lee said as everyone left the diary farm with the walkers coming in after the generator shut down

`0`

"Hey Lee," Lee glanced over his shoulder to see Carley. "I'd say I'm sorry for leaving the motel unattended, but ya know."

"I'm glad you showed up when you did. If you hadn't taken that shot at Andy, we might not have gotten out of there."

"Were they really killing people... for dead?"

"Yeah. And Clementine almost ate some."

"But...?"

"She didn't." Carley and Lee glanced at Noah. "I gotta tell you guys, this is a fucked up world we live in now. I can't even believe Clementine is stuck in it herself." he said, seeing Lee walk over to Kenny for a second. "Be right back."

"There's gonna be fallout." Kenny stated, looking at Lee and Noah

"For leaving Lily's dad? I can imagine so."

"What do you two think?"

"She'll get over it."

"Hopefully, she does. Besides," Noah give a quick glance at Lily. "She needs it. There was nothing we could've done to save Larry. I told that asshole he was gonna get himself killed having a heart attack."

"Hell, someone needs to fill in if she ain't up for it." Kenny replied with the three of them heading back to the group

"Noah," he turned to see Clementine walking beside him. "Are those bad people gone?"

"Yeah, walkers probably got them. Karma give them what they deserve."

Clementine quirked her eyebrow confused. "Karma?"

"Yes, Karma. You see when someone's a good person, good things tend to happen sometimes. If someone's a bad person, bad things will happen. Even worse maybe." he explained to Clementine

"Oh."

"Dad? What's that sound?" Duck asked his father

"That sounds like a car."

"More strangers, maybe?" Travis glanced at the group

Kenny and Lee went first to make sure it was safe to move toward the car. They slowly approached the station wagon, only to find it was deserted with no one inside. But what that noticed inside was food, water and supplies in the back trunk.

"It's a shitload of food and supplies back here!"

"Look at all of this." Noah grinned with luck being on the group's side

"This food could save all of us."

"Not all of us." Lily groused, looking away with Kenny sighed grumbling

"Look, we don't know if these people are dead."

"They probably are. We don't know if they're still alive." Travis said to Ben

"If they come back, we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruining their lives." Lily stated

"This stuff isn't ours."

"Dad, who's car is it?"

"Don't worry about that Duck, it's our now."

"It's abandoned, Ducky. Don't worry."

"But what of it's not?" everyone glanced at Clementine. "What if it's not abandoned? What if it is someone's?"

Lee crouched down toward Clementine. "We have to take this, Clementine. We need it to survive."

"Sorry, kiddo. I don't think it's not about right and wrong anymore, only survival." Noah stated sadly to Clementine as he nodded her head in understanding, while gave everyone food and supplies when Noah noticed a hoodie about Clementine's size. "Here, you should this."

"But it's not mine."

"Hold on to for safe-keeping, okay?"

"Okay." Noah ruffled her hair a little bit

Noah took out his notebook writing down another rule once again. "Rule 57: Stay away from cannibals." he glanced at the ransacked station wagon. "Messed up in Rule 41: Never leave food and supplies to an abandoned car." Noah looked to see the group far behind him. "Hey, wait up!" he yelled rushing toward them as they headed back to the motor-inn.


	3. Long Road ahead

Chapter 3: Long Road Ahead

Three weeks later

Noah and Doug were driving out in a car they highwire at the other side of near Macon, looking for food and supplies as usual. Possibly at Morrow, making they're break at a nearby grocery store. Hopefully there was food before anyone could've taken whatever was inside as Noah and Doug got out of the car. Noah turned his safety his desert eagle while Doug did the same to his GLOCK with the laser sight. Doug still wore the green sweater jacket, blue pants and hiking shoes while Noah had on his white jacket with a green t-shirt, brown cargo pants and black combat shoes as he grabbed his crossbow and a backpack. The plan was simple: Go in, find food and supplies before walkers or bandits show up, and then leave out of sight. Doug was on the left side of the door while Noah was on the right side arming their guns.

Doug glanced at Noah. "Ready?"

"Always." he answered as Noah quickly and quietly opened the door, silently closing the door behind them

"Place looks deserted." Doug whispered. "Think anyone's still here? Or anything for that matter?" he asked as Noah stumbed upon a guitar near his feet

"Only one way to find out for sure." Noah picked the guitar off the floor, taking a deep breath before he started. "Here we go."

Noah began playing a short tune, loud enough for everyone to hear. The tune was one of his mother's favorite, a aerosmith song called Walk this way. He kept playing the song, seeing if there was anyone or something inside with him and Doug. Then all of a sudden, they heard banging down an aisle as Noah slowly stopped playing the song. A dark figure started, along with two more coming from aisle 6 as the figures revealed themselves as walkers. Doug aimed his gun at one of them, only for Noah to lower his GLOCK.

"Save the bullets."Noah said as he bashed the head of the first walker he approached with the guitar, falling the floor before giving it another bash to the skull. "Rule 3: Double tap."

Doug slammed a hatchet across a walker's forehead, killing it dead. "Do those rules of yours actually help?"

"Of course it does." Noah replied stabbing both of his K-BAR knives at the final walker's head as he bashed the skull near a wall. "How do you think I'm still alive?" tapped the pocket of his jacket, where his journal as Doug was gathering food they put in a shopping cart he could find. "These survival tips."

"Yeah, but for how long?" throwing canned foods down on the shopping cart

"As long as I want it to." Noah shouted grabbing medical supplies from the pharmacy as a walker pounced on him. "Shit!" he swore kicking the walker off of him, taking out the crossbow and shooting an arrow toward its head as the walker was now dead. "Piece of shit." Noah kicked the walker in the head as he grabbed the last supply

"You alright?" Noah looked over his shoulder to see Doug moving a cart of food

"Yeah." Noah spat on the downed walker he killed. "Damn thing snuck up on me." he looked back at Doug with a walker about to attack. "Get down!" he yelled as he shot at the walker behind Doug in the head. "Fuck!"

"Oh no..." Doug looked around suddenly hearing walkers. "We need to go!"

"No shit, run!" he shouted as him and Doug ran out the door, taking the supplies with them as Doug started putting in the back of the trunk. "Cover me!" he told Noah as he started firing on the head of incoming walkers

"You done?" Noah asked, shooting a walker in the eye as it dropped dead while reloading a magazine in his gun

"Almost... got it!" Doug closed the trunk and ran toward the driver side as he got inside the car. "It's done. Get in!" Noah followed getting in the car as Doug drove off

"That was too close."

"No shit."

`0`

Noah and Doug made it back to the Travelier motor-inn motel, honking the horn as Travis opened the gate so him and Noah could move the food in the Rv. Doug got out of the car carrying medical supplies as him and Noah made their way to Lily's room. Noah ruffled Clementine's head a little bit as he noticed Ben was on watch... again. Travis was wearing a denim jacket instead of his letterman one, along the way a more better lookout at taking watch. But Noah shook his head as he saw Kenny and Lily arguing. And lately, it's been getting out of hand. Especially since Lily's dad was dead. Noah told him that he was going to kill himself having a heart attack, and he was right. Lily on the other hand, had looked to become unstable recently. She bear resentment to Kenny and Lee, especially Noah for agreeing to leave Larry back at the St. John farm. With the thought terrifying him if things got worse, if she went insane for instance.

"You two are at it again? Christ."

"Can it, Noah."

"Don't boss people around."

"I'm sorry. But someone needs to make executive decisions for the group and I don't think your fit as leader."

"You two need to stop this shit." Noah responded with everyone glancing at him. "We're strongest together. It can't be you verseus us, Lily. We're sorry about what happened to your dad, but we're in this together now. And you need to move on. I mean, what are you going to about food? Protection? Or hell when this place falls apart. Someone's got to be thinking this shit."

"He's right. We even got food from that station wagon." Lee stated. "Where would be now if we didn't have that?"

Lily glared at Kenny. "Everything that happens to us is another excuse for you to pull this crap about leaving. All I want is a week of peace not hearing it." Noah decided to leave the conversation after that, stepping to

"Now everyone GET OUT!" Lily yelled as everyone moved away from her room after she shut the door

"She'll get over it." Lee said

"She's riling everybody else, otherwise." Kenny replied with him and Katjaa leaving

"Well Lily's right about one thing, none of this isn't getting any easier." Travis stated. "I'm heading to my room for a nap. I got Ben's watch for 15 minutes. So I might as well get a fifteen minute rest." Travis to his room ahead upstairs to the second room near Clementine

Carley sighed. "Things are coming to a head."

"It's close, I can tell you that." Noah said making his way upstairs to his room. "For once, I would like to be in charge of the group this time." he said opening the door to his motel room

He headed toward the bathroom and close the door. After taking throwing up and washing his hands, he stared down at his reflection at the mirror. His shaved fade cut grown, revealing a light scruffy stubble on his face. He looked at the photo of his adoptive mother Tessa. He looked away putting the photo of her back in his pocket. All of a sudden, he heard Lee and Carley talking about something as Lee went down the stairs with Noah stepping out of his motel room.

"What were you two talking about?"

"Hmm?" Carley glanced at Noah. "Oh, nothing."

Noah shook his head after Carley avoiding the answer. "Carley..."

"About Lee telling everyone who he was." she said

"You mean the convicted killer thing?"

"Yeah, I mean if Lily told anyone about Lee before all of this..."

"They wouldn't trust him." Noah finished as he smiled at Carley. "I think you helped him out with that."

"Thanks." Carley said showing a small grin as she heard Noah letting out a laugh. "What's funny?"

"Nothing. It's just that I remember you talking with Clementine ten weeks ago, seeing how you and Lee are with you. It's like you two are her parents."

"I don't know about that. Maybe we are her parents in a way." Carley then had a saddened look on her face. "Lee, told me what happen to her mom and dad."

"Yeah, I know." Noah said looking down. "He told me two days ago that her parents are gone. Lee said he heard three messages when he was at Clem's house. Two were for the babysitter, but the last one... god. I get it that Lee doesn't want to tell Clementine what happened to her parents, but... I'm wondering on how she'll take it."

"Me too." Carley said seeing Lee talk with Kenny alone. "Looks like he's telling Kenny. He already told Ben and Travis."

"How did they take it?"

"Ben, maybe a little terrified and I somehow think he didn't know how to handle the information. Travis too, but I think he got over it real quick."

"I'm gonna head down and eat. My damn stomach's grumbling." Noah went down to the stairs to grab something to eat

"Hey, Noah?" Noah looked at the direction of the voice as he saw it was Travis while he ate out a can of sliced pears from the store he and Doug went to. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"What did you want to talk about?" Noah asked still munching on the sliced pears

"Have you seen my flashlight? It's been missing for a couple of days."

"No, I haven't. You still got your spare right?"

Travis nod his head to a yes. "I still do, but I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this."

"You're probably tense."

"EVERYBODY DON'T FUCKING MOVE!" yelled a male's voice as bandits started to surround everyone

"Fuck. I hate it when I'm wrong!" Noah muttered with his and Travis' hands up in the air in surrender, while one of the bandits positioning them toward the group in a line

"YOU DON'T FUCKING STEAL FROM US!"

"What the hell's he talking about?"

"I have no fucking idea." Noah told Travis as he spotted Lee walking over his hands in the air, surrending

"Hold it right there, asshole!" the head leader of the bandit group shouted, aiming his gun at Lee

"Take it easy." Lee said. "We have more supplies. We can keep the deal going."

"Too late shithead! We ain't givin' second chances!" the bandit leader barked as Travis noticed Lily taking position

"It was a mix-up! We'll make it worth your while."

"...I'm listenin'."

"We can split the supplies. Spread them around!" Lee suggested making his way closer, with his hands still up

"Or we can kill you and take it ALL."

"And what about when they run out? When you don't have us out there collecting them for you?" Lee pointed out to the leader of the bandits

"Well..." the bandit leader put his gun down. "I suppose we oughta hash out some terms, then."

"I don't like no damn hash." said one of the bandits on the leader's left

"Shut up or I'll-!" the leader was shot in the head by Lily with her sniper rifle

"Christ!"

"Oh, shit!"

Carley both bandits in the head, while the three went to make a run for it. Lee managed to shoot in the back, even with Doug shooting the bandit in the ass when the shot bandit made a whistle that lead to the bandits storming the motel. Travis grabbed a crossbow from one of the bandits and took the quiver of arrows with as one of the bandit shot at Ben. Travis launched an arrow at the bandit that was shooting Ben, with the arrow impacted on his eye while Noah shot two more as he motioned Travis to go with Ben in the RV.

"Thanks!"

"Just get in!" Noah shouted shooting another bandit in the eyes.

"Get those bastards! Give our people cover and get them in the RV!" Kenny yelled out after Lee shot a bandit in the head, along with two more as he looked at Carley and Noah. "Now! Get over here! Hurry!"

Carley and Noah ran toward Lee, while Doug followed as they got in the RV. Noah, on the other hand decided to help Lee as he shot a few more bandits. Then all of a sudden, he saw a walker attack one of the bandits which meant they were close to coming. Noah peeked out the window to see bandits firing on walkers as they left, with a few of them being eaten by walkers. Kenny brought Katjaa and Duck inside with Lee aand Lily coming in last. Kenny drove away from the motor-inn, running over a couple of walkers before they left the motor-inn motel for good.

`0`

"Kat! Jesus, are you okay?!" Kenny said staring at his wife with Duck on her lap unconscious

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit!" Ben panicked with his hands on his head

"Jesus Christ! I can't believe that happened." Travis said to everyone. "What the hell are we going to do?!"

"Everything's fine, Travis."

"Everything's not fine." Lily growled as she glared at Ben and Travis. "We need to figure out how any of this happened. We just lost everything."

"Well, at least we made it out of there with this RV." Noah stated

"Damn straight!" Kenny agreed still driving

"That and nobody died." Doug pointed out

"Kat's head is split open!"

"I'm fine, Ken!"

"Somebody in here caused this."

"Settle down back there!" Kenny shouted still driving

"Kenny's right. The bandits been having our numbers on weeks." Travis stated

"This is different." Lily looked at Lee. "Somebody was working with them. Whoever it was slipping them our meds. They didn't even get their last package, so they attacked."

"What?" Noah said confused, along with everyone else being confused except Kenny and Katjaa who were in the front

"Calm down back there! That's nuts!"

Lily glanced at Lee then everyone else. "Lee found a bag of supplies hidden outside the wall!" everyone except looked

"It's true."

Lily glared straight at Carley. "So, Carley, is there something you want to say?"

Carley scoffed. "Please."

"Lily..." Noah shook his head in disagreement with Lily's assumption of Carley being the culprit who stole the supplies

"We have to get it out of you then?" Lily still glared at Carley

"Back off." Carley snarled

"You're in not position to make demands."

"Hold up, you're just pointing fingers." Noah disagreed

"Carley's trustworthy. She's not a traitor, Lily." Lee stated

"Thank you, Lee."

"She can fight her own battles." Lily hissed glaring at Lee, then staring back at Carley. "Unless there's something going on here that implicates you both."

"Don't be ridiculous."

"Like, look, maybe we should put a vote or something like that?" Ben said in near hesistation

"WHAT?!"

"Just look. All of this was probably a mistake." Ben explained

"Stop pointing the finger around Lily. It's not helping." Doug said

"We need to find out who the traitor is, whether anyone likes it or not."

"Nobody wasn't stealing ANYTHING."

Lily glared at Ben and Carley. "Was it both of you?" she then glared straight at Travis. "Or was it Travis?"

he glared back at her. "Oh fuck you, Lily!"

"Look, you could just let me out." Ben said folding his arms. "I didn't do it, but I don't like this. I don't like where this is going."

Lily leaned forward, glaring at Ben in the eyes. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you didn't have anything to do with it."

Then all of a sudden, the RV ran over something in the road. Kenny stopped the RV and pulled over, letting the RV come to a halt. But that stopped Lily from questioning anyone who slip supplies to the bandits back at the motor-inn. So with the RV stopping, this literally became a field day for her as she ordered everyone out. Kenny on the other hand went to check out what he ran over with the RV. It was now night time, a certain advantage walkers could have at during the dark.

"Aside from the surface damage of the RV, we got a walker trapped underneath." Noah told Kenny as he crouched down to see for himself

"God damnit. Everyone, keep your eyes peeled for walkers."

"You know what? We shouldn't just kick you out, we should hear what everybody thinks."

"I think you should just chill out."

"I'm not taking this." Carley said. "You can push Ben around, maybe Travis, but not me."

"There's no way it was Carley. It was somebody else. It could've been someone sneaking into our camp."

Lily glared at Lee folding her arms. "That's ridiculous. That's what you think?"

"Well, yeah." Noah answered for Lee

"Okay, Fine then." Lily glanced at Kenny trying to think of a way to remove the walker underneath the RV. "Kenny?"

"I don't know! Fuck! Just stop, would ya?!"

"Well, your vote counts for you and Katjaa."

"We don't need all these votes! What do I have to do to get you to trust me? I'll do ANYTHING!" Ben said panicking. "I'll do watches for months."

"The hell you will."

"Ben, seriously, stop panicking. Take a breath and calm down." Noah said to Ben

Lily motioned her hand at Ben. "Do we need move evidence than this?!"

"Fuck EVIDENCE. Stop treating him like this."

"Shut up, Carley! I heard enough out of you."

"Lily, calm down. You're making things worse." Doug said

"Don't tell me to calm down." Lily snarled at Doug. "Kenny what's it going to be?"

"Just give me a goddamn minute." Kenny said occupied at the moment

"Ben until that walker is dealt with, you have until a minute to tell me it was her, Doug, or Travis and not you."

"Damn it, Lily. Quit torturing the kid." Doug stepped in

"No!"

"BEN!"

"I did it." Lee said while everyone except Kenny staring at him, seeing Lily glare at him. "Yeah, it was me. That get you to lay off the kid?"

"I think you're capable of being a real piece of shit, but I know it wasn't you." Lily glanced at Clementine. "Not with her in your life."

"Please, just let get back in the-" Lily cut Ben off

"No. That's going to be happen. Tell me who it was, now. Tell m-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" everyone looked at who shouted at Lily, only to realize it was actually Travis. "You just think you're some tough chick, instead you're just some scared little bitch who lost her daddy. Big fucking deal! He's dead, get over it! Take a book from Lee and Noah for once in your life and try to help someone you crazy cunt! And another thing..." Travis glared directly at Lily. "I'm glad we left your dad back at that barn! He was nothing but an asshole and I'm glad he's dead." Travis concluded as Lily sent an evil glare at him, with everyone's eyes wide with shock

"Oh, shit..." Noah trailed off while Kenny removed the walker underneath the RV and killed it by stomping its brains out

"Now, what the fuck's the problem?"

Before anyone could reply back to Kenny, a gunshot was fired and something fall on the ground. Everyone looked down with wide eyes to see it was Travis, killed by a bullet in the eye leading the brain. And the culprit that fired the gun, was Lily as stood there staring at the dead Travis. Before Lee could confront Lily, Noah pinned her the RV grabbing both of wrists with an angered look on his face.

"Drop that fucking gun... NOW!" he yelled with Lily bug eyed as she drop the gun on the ground

"Travis..." Ben said stammering

"I can't believe she just did that..." Doug said as he made his way back into the RV still shocked at what happened just now

"Kenny! What's happening?!"

"Keep Duck away from the window! Jesus Christ!" he said stepping away from Travis' corpse as he made his way to Noah who still held Lily bound to the RV, while Carley picked her GLOCK off the ground. "Get in!" he glared at Lily. "We're leavin' this crazy bitch."

"He couldn't be trusted, Noah. You have to believe me." she pleaded as Noah realeased his grip on her. "Guys, please..."

"You're not coming with us." Lee told Lily

"I'll die out here." she said with her voice cracking down in fear

"We don't care." Carley snarled, glaring at Lily as she had a worried look staring at Clementine, placing her hands on the little girl's shoulder. "Come on, Clementine. Let's get back in the RV."

"You're a murderer, Lily. We can't have you with us."

"I'm a murderer! You had Lee with you all this time!"

"I know what he did before."

"You know?!"

"Yeah, he told me. And I don't give a shit." he stated with Ben going inside the RV. "If we keep you with us, how long until you get me?"

"I was trying to protect all of us. I don't have anything left."

Noah glared at Lily. "You lost it. You've fucking lost it, Lily." he said getting in the RV as Kenny did the same

"Get in, Lee." he shouted to Lee as said person did, leaving Lily behind as she started running away from a walker

"I hope to god we don't see her again. I can't believe she cracked like that." Doug said seeing Lily run in the wilds

"Lee. Noah." both said people turned their attention to the front seat where Kenny, Katjaa and Duck were. "Could you two come here, please?"

"You alright, Clem?" Lee asked Clementine who was resting her head on Carley's shoulder

"Katjaa needs you for something."

"You two should go on ahead to see what she needs." Carley said wrapping her arms around Clementine in a motherly manner while Lee and Noah went to the front side of the RV

"What's up?" Kenny and Katjaa looked at each other than at Duck with saddened looks on their faces. "Is Duck feeling alright?" he asked as Katjaa moved up Duck's, showing the bite mark on Duck's stomach with Noah and Lee's eyes wide in horror

"Oh my god... when did this happen?" Noah asked still shocked

"During the raid." Kenny answered keeping his eyes on the road

"What's the plan? We've never had a bite victim in the group." Lee said

"I'll keep an eye on him and see what I can do, from a medical prospective." Katjaa stated

"We keep the same play unless something changes. East."

"Guys, you know that-" Noah was cut off by Katjaa

"What other choice is there?! We thought you two should know." Katjaa replied

"Important to be honest with each other."

"If one of you can tell Clementine, that would be much appreciated." Katjaa said as Lee sat beside Carley and Clementine, with Carley laying on his chest while Clementine laid on Carley's

"You wanna tell them?" Noah said leaning on the counter

"Tell us what?" Carley stared at Noah, then at Lee

"Duck is bitten." Lee told Carley and Clementine. "It happened back in the motor-inn."

Carley gasped in shock. "Oh god..."

"I don't feel good." Clementine said in a sad tone with Noah looking away. "What about Travis?"

"Gone. But won't come back."

"Because he was shot in the head."

"That's right. It's horrible, sweetie." Carley said rubbing Clementine's back motherly

"Yeah, it is."

"I'm glad I have you two then." Lee said to Carley and Clementine as they looked up at him, smiling

"Me too." Clementine said looking at Lee and Carley

"I'm glad I have you guys too." Carley agreed

Clementine looked down with a sad look. "I heard you outside my treehouse and thought about dropping a hammer on your head."

"Whoa." Noah deadpanned at what Clementine said

"Hmm. That's nice."

"I didn't though." she replied with Noah letting out a chuckle

"Thanks."

"I'm gonna get some rest like the others." Noah said as he laid back on a bench, falling asleep.

`0`

Noah suddenly heard a guitar playing as his eyes opened, seeing that everyone in the RV was gone. He grabbed his desert eagle and K-BARs from the counter as he stepped, seeing the group with a homeless man playing his guitar. Noah looked at where they were. In the woods, along with a freight train right in front of him and the group. He looked over to Duck, who wasn't doing any good and was getting a bit worse by the minute. He had an hour, maybe minutes to live until he turned.

"Noah!" Clementine ran and hugged him

"Hey, Clem. You doing okay?"

"Yeah."

"That's good to hear." Noah went over to Katjaa. "Has Clementine said anything about Travis? Or Duck?"

"No. that little girl is a puzzle. Oh god..." she slightly looked away. "Travis. It seemed like it was yesterday ago. He always helped around and kept watch whenever anyone needed some rest."

"Think we made the right call about Lily?"

"Yes. We have lines. And we made the right call with her."

"Did the others think so too?"

"Carley and Doug agreed. Ben's still shaken about it."

"I bet he is." Noah glanced at the homeless man. "Hell, Travis was his best friend."

"Howdy."

"Hey." Noah glanced at Katjaa. "Who's he?"

"That's Chuck. We just met him recently." Katjaa replied as Lee and Kenny walking toward them

"We don't got much left, so just gather whatever you have." Kenny said everyone started getting in the boxcar

"Duck is getting sicker." Katjaa stated to Kenny.

"We can keep going if you want, Kenny." Lee said to Kenny

"Damn right I want. That's what we're doing."

"I think Lee just wants to talk it through." Katjaa explained

"It's TALKED THROUGH. Get on, Kat." Kenny said in disbelief. "I'll be up front. I don't want to hear any nonsense until we get where we're goin'."

"Damn it, Kenny..." Noah muttered as him and Katjaa got inside the boxcar, with Lee going with Kenny to move the train

The train was going where it needed to, East. The whole ride was quiet. Ben was sitting with his hands on his knees, still looking down at the fact Travis was shot in the head by Lily yesterday. Doug was staring at the woods, catching a view of a walker being hit by the train with its head decapiated. Carley was with Clementine as the nine year old girl stared at Duck getting sicker, leaving to Clementine to rest her head on Carley's chest. Noah was staring at the state Duck was in, and he was close enough to dying.

"Got to be hard on ya, eh? Six adults taking care of three kids." Chuck glanced at Ben who glared at him. "No offense, son."

"There were more of us."

"Dead get them?"

Noah looked down at Chuck's question. "No."

"Ah, livin' got them then."

Duck started coughing up blood. "Noah! I need you. Right now." she said as Noah wiped the blood off of Duck's mouth with a napkin. "He's out of time. We need to stop this train."

"But you know Kenny won't."

Katjaa pointed at the bloodied napkin. "He will if you show him that."

"Alright then." Noah left the boxcar heading the front where Lee and Kenny as he opened the door. "Ken, you got to stop the train."

"What are you on about?" Kenny said ignoring Noah as he showed him the napkin with Duck's blood. "What the hell is that?"

"Your son blood."

"Get that away from me."

"You know he's dying, Ken." Lee said to Kenny

"Nobody knows shit! He'll be fine."

"I'm sorry, Ken. We have to stop this train."

"Get back there and tell my wife there's nothing to worry about." Kenny glanced over his shoulder at Lee and Noah. "What's the goddamn deal? He's a little sick, that's it. Ya'll just making it worse."

"You think you're the reason Duck's bitten, don't you? Like how you had this coming." Noah said staring at Kenny. "You didn't kill Hershel's son."

"Yes, I did. And now it's catching up to me."

"That's not what went down. You looked out for your kid and a bad thing happened to someone else's." Lee stated

"There's no way this world lets my son live when I helped put someone else's in the ground." Kenny said with his voice slowly cracking down

"You know that's not the way it works." Lee placed his hand on Kenny's shoulder. "Stop the train, man."

Kenny side glanced at Lee and Noah as he stopped the train. Everyone step out with Noah heading over to the others, while Katjaa holding Duck went toward Kenny. Doug and Carley looked down knowing what was going to happen next. Lee said he would put Duck out of misery for Kenny and Katjaa's sake. They went to the forest to put them down while Lee walked over to Clementine who was standing beside Carley.

"What's happening?"

"Duck is dying."

"I know." she said in a sad tone, looking away then back at Lee. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to put him out of his misery. By making sure he doesn't come back."

"Oh."

"Look Clem, things will-" Lee was cut off as a gunshot was fired

"What the hell?" Noah swore

"NOOO!"

"Carley, get Clementine back in the train. Go, it'll be fine."

"I'll go with you." Noah stated

"No." Lee stated. "I need you here with the group." he explained running toward where Kenny and Katjaa were

`0`

Things have worse have taken a turn for the worst. The motor-inn gone, Lily killing Travis, and most of all Duck and Katjaa dead. Lee told everyone what happened. Katjaa shot herself in the head so she wouldn't see her own son die, attempting suicide. And that lead to Kenny's world being turned upside down. Ben was more depressed than ever, with Doug and Carley shocked at what happened. Noah was with Kenny at the train, seeing Lee brush aside both of them to where Chuck was out. Apparently, Noah could tell they were having an argument about something he just didn't know what. Once they were done, Lee came back inside.

"Lee." Noah said only for Lee to leave. "Lee. Hey!"

Lee finally glanced at Noah. "What?"

"What's up? You were having some sort of chat with Chuck." he stated. "You seemed pretty pissed about it."

"He told Clementine what happened to Duck would happen to her."

"What? Why the hell would he say that?" Noah asked with his voice filled with shock and held up anger

"He said Clementine needed to know that she has to survive if she's ever on her own."

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, what happens now?"

"I'm going to talk it over with Carley. Clementine too. She needs to know how a map works, cut her hair from being grabbed and how to use a gun."

"You can teach her how to shoot and Carley can cut her hair." Noah stated. "I'll teach her how a map works."

"You have a good point. I'll go tell Carley." Lee said moving his way to the boxcar, while Noah went inside as well

Noah grabbed a bottle of whiskey that Chuck had. He looked at the bottle, sending a fifth of liquior left in it. He took it and left out of the boxcar, all the way to the end where Chuck was standing at.

"Lee told me about the little talk you had." Chuck glanced at Noah. "You got a point. I mean, in case we'll all dead and she's alone. Anyway," Noah gave Chuck his bottle of whiskey. "Here's your drink."

"Thanks. You want any?"

"No, I think I'll pass." Noah paused as he glanced at Kenny. "But Kenny might. God knows he could use one."

"Good. Go see if he does." Chuck said as Noah went to talk to Kenny

"Chuck's offering anyone a drink. You want one, man?"

Kenny sighed. "Yeah. I could use one right about now." he got up and went outside with Chuck, while Noah grabbed the map off the tray

"A map of Georgia's cities and stuff. Good one, too." he said, making his way back to the boxcar. "Hey, ben."

"It was me."

Noah stopped and glanced at Ben with a confused look on his face. "What?"

"I was the one giving the bandits supplies." Noah made his way toward Ben. "It was me. It's all my fault."

Noah's eyes become wide with shock, he couldn't even believe it. The one giving the bandits supplies, the raid back at the motor-inn, and Travis being shot by Lily. But most of all, Duck being bitten with him and Katjaa dead. The one responsible for what happened yesterday, was actually Ben. Noah grabbed Ben by the collar of his jacket, slamming him on the backside of the train.

"I could fucking kill you right now, Ben. What the hell where you thinking?! Do you realize what you've done!?" Noah shouted enraged

"I know, I know! They said they had my friend and that he was with him."

"Christ's sake." Noah growled angrily. "Could we even trust you, Ben? And they didn't have your friend did they?"

"Yes."

"Why the hell are you even telling me this?"

"I just-" Noah cut Ben off as he let go of him

"Don't tell anybody. You can't take away any of the shit you've done back. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Ben answered in a panicking tone as the door to the boxcar opened, revealing Lee and Carley who stared at the two

"What are you guys talking about?" Carley asked

"Nothing." Noah walked toward the couple. "I'll tell you two later." he whispered to Lee and Carley as he went inside with Clementine, seeing her hair now had pigtails after her hair was cut by Carley. "Hey Clem."

"Hi." she said as Noah spread out the map

"Let's talk about Savannah." he saw Clementine smile. "And just in case if the city's bad or under control, we're going to look at this map. You and I are a team. And a team needs a plan. So you and I should know what we're doing."

"A plan. I like it."

"Good to hear."

"And my parents are in Savannah."

"I know Clem, but-"

"No. I don't care about safety. I want to find them."

"I know. But..." he glanced at Clementine with a sad look. "If you do, you might not like you'll find in Savannah. But if you think they're out there, we'll look for them."

Clementine smiled. "Really?"

"Sure."

"There's a lot of hotels. And there's the marsh house."

"That's where I get good deserts!"

"Then that's where they'll probably b-"

"SHIT. Hold on, everybody!" Kenny yelled as the train came to a stop, with Noah holding onto Clementine as the train came to a halt. "You okay?" Noah asked Clementine as she nodded in reply. "Let's go see what going on."

Noah and Clementine saw a hanging fuel tank above a wrecked bridge. They spotted Lee and Kenny talking to two people. One was a persian-american that shorter than the taller African-American woman. The man wore a black puffy jacket and blue jeans while the woman wore a white and purple jacket and blue pants. Clementine went up to follow Lee going up the ladder. That's when Lee and Clementine, along with the couple came down the ladder to meet the group.

"Guys, this is Omid and Chirsta." Lee said with everyone remaining silent

Omid rubbed the back of his head. "Not big on welcome..." he muttered jokingly

"Like I said, we could use some good people."

"We just want to say hi and that your train is pretty cool."

"The plan is to cut that tanker down and be on our way."

"Good plan." Noah glanced at the small train station nearby. "That place might have a cutter we could use."

"Seems like a plan enough to me."

Omid looked at Lee. "You wanna stay in on that tanker?"

"I'll get to know the girls for a minute, if you don't mind."

"And why don't I show you how this thing works, in case something happens. It probably for the best."

"Someone might want to have a look at that station too." Doug stated

"Sounds great. Let's do this thing."

Doug glanced at Ben who was on top of the boxcar. "Ben, you keep lookout in case walkers show up."

"You got it." Ben said as everyone got accquainted

"Noah." he glanced at Lee. "You said you wanted to tell me something about the argument you and Ben were having?"

Noah glanced at everyone as he motioned Lee to follow him, making sure not be near anyone. "Remember that thing Lily talked about someone stealing supplies?"

Lee folded his arms together looking confused. "Yeah... why?"

"It turns out the one getting giving the supplies to the bandits was Ben."

Lee's eyes widened at the shocking truth. "WHAT?"

"It was Ben. He was the one that gave them medical supplies."

"Jesus..." Lee glanced at Kenny.

"Has he told Kenny?"

"I told him not to." Noah stated. "Judging by the state Ken's in, I'd rather not want Ben to tell him."

"That's a good idea." Lee glanced at Ben on watch. "I can't believe it was Ben."

"Me neither." Noah said. "Hey, Lee..." Lee glanced at Noah. "Might if I take Clementine to take out that station?"

"Go ahead. She's a crack shot now."

"No kidding." Noah walked to Clementine. "Hey, Clem, you want to come with me to that train station? To see what we're looking for?" he glanced at everyone. "Anyone come hustle if someone's wrong."

"Sure, let's do that." she said as her and Noah made their way to the abandonded train station

Noah grabbed the door knob. "Ready?" Clementine nodded in a yes as the door was locked, with Noah giving Clementine a boost up after he spotted a window above. "See anything?"

"Lots of crates and stuff."

"We can either find a key or figure out a way to knock down this door." Noah suggested as he sound a click sound above

"I think I opened it."

"Seriously?" Noah asked putting Clementine on the ground as she landed on her feet, leaving Clementine to open the door. "It's dark in here."

"Maybe I can keep the door open?" Clementine asked when Noah placed a wrench to leave it half open

"There. And I think I see a blow torch over by that fence." Noah grabbed Clementine and put her on his shoulders, making her through the fence. "Go ahead and get the keys, Clem." he said as Noah looked wide eyed. "Clem?"

"Behind you!" she warned as Noah turned to see a walkers behind him

"Fucking shit!" Noah aimed his gun at the walker, only for to suddenly pounce on him as he kicked the walker out of him. "Can risk a gunshot." Noah put the gun back in his holster and tried for his K-BAR knives, but they weren't in his possession. "Shit. I left them with Carley." Noah glanced at the wrench heading the door as he went for it, along with punching a walker that was almost near him.

He grabbed the wrench holding the door, bashing it with the walker's head three times killing it permeantely. Noah kicked the other in the ground, slamming the wrench at the walker's head four times. Just when he was about to take a breather, he noticed another in the fence with Clementine as she tossed him the key. Noah unlocked the door as Clementine ran to him in a frightening hug as Noah shot the walker in the head with his desert eagle.

"You okay, Clem?"

"Yeah. That didn't go so good."

"No, it didn't." Noah grinned. "Good thing we're okay." Clementine smiled back

"What's going on?" Christa opened the door. "I thought I heard a gunshot."

"We're fine."

Christa gave off a stare as she folder her arms. "You and an eight year old verseus three of them, huh?"

"We handled it."

"Right." Christa said in disbelief. "Well, I'm going to check outside and see if the noise didn't attract anything."

Clementine smiled. "That's a good idea."

Christa smiled back as she left, but stopped as she glanced at Noah. "I hope you know what you're doing with her."

"Me too."

Christa's expression softened. "For her sake." she replied leaving as Noah and Clementine did the same

After getting the blow torch from the station, Lee and Omid were cutting the hook off the tanker. But while that happened, Ben suddenly found forty walkers heading toward the train as he yelled to let everyone know. Lee and Omid were still cutting down the hook to the tanker as it finally came off. Lee kicked the blow torch down where the fuel spilled as it spewed on fire, with him and going at the back. Lee jumped on the boxcar while Omid went second, only for him to sprain his leg and fall to the ground. Christa jumped in to help him while Lee and Doug pulled them both in, leaving the tanker to explode preventing walkers from going further. Lee and Noah were on the operating side of the train as Lee saw Clementine sleep on the chair. Noah smiled as well, but noticed a drawing in Clementine's backpack as he saw the drawing was Kenny and his family. Both of them looked away with sad looks while Kenny came in as Noah put the drawing back in her bag.

"Next stop, the Altantic."

"We have to find a boat." Lee stated. "We have to."

Kenny glanced at Lee. "We will."

"You'll be alright, Kenny." Noah said

"I'll be alive, I guess. Blood in my heart, blood in my brain at least."

"We'll leave you to your thoughts." Lee said as he glanced at Clementine sleeping. "She's out cold like I've seen her been." he stated as him along with Kenny and Noah heard a radio cracked suddenly

"What the fuck?" Noah stared with wide eyes as he noticed the walkie-talkie was still working

"Helloo... there..."

"What the...?"

"Can't wait for you to get here, Clementine. I've got your parents right here and you be sure to find me whether Lee and Noah wants you to or not. Now, what I need-" Noah turned the radio off

"Holy shit..." Lee said shocked

"I thought that fucking thing was broken..."

"Hell, so did I." Noah said

Kenny looked straight at Savannah. "Well, it looks like someone knows where we're headed."

Noah stared at Savannah along with Lee and Kenny. "Who the fuck...?"

"I don't know, guys. But I fucking doubt we're going to be happy when we find out."


	4. Around Every Corner

Chapter 4: Around Every Corner

The group finally arrived in Savannah, walking the deserted town as everyone kept watch while walking. Kenny was leading the group first, while Ben and Chuck were following behind him. Christa was checking on Omid who was still limping, with Doug helping the crippled man. Noah was beside Lee, Clementine and Carley. The whole walk was quiet ever since the arrival in Savannah. Lee had the radio in his possession as Clementine kept glancing at it, then at Lee and Noah.

"Can I just hold it?" Lee and Noah glanced at Clementine, then continued on ahead. "I mean, my parents are here. Maybe I can-" Noah cut Clementine off

"Not now Clem, maybe later." he said. "We need you to focus. Turn your attention to the streets, okay?"

she looked down with a sad look. "Okay."

Carley glanced at Christa. "How's Omid?"

Christa looked at him with a worried look. "His leg's pretty bad."

"I'm fine." he said still limping

"You're not fine. You need to rest." Christa glanced back at Carley and Lee. "He needs to rest."

"Kenny, how farther are we to the river front?" Noah asked

"Should be just a few more blocks up ahead."

Christa glanced at Lee. "You sure they'll be boats there?"

"There sure as hell better be." Carley replied. "We can't keep walking like this all day."

"There'll be boats." Kenny side glanced at the group, then forward on the road. "Have to be. Have to be."

"I don't know." Doug said. "Maybe we should think of something else."

Ben looked at Doug. "It's alright, Doug. Kenny knows what he's doing."

Then suddenly, the church bell rung as the sound echoed through the deserted streets. Christa began to have doubts that Savannah wasn't a ghost town. Kenny believed that the bell was running on a automatic timer, but mentioned it rung was twenty past the hour. All of a sudden, Noah saw someone on the roof then disappeared.

"Someone's up there!"

"Are you sure?" Ben looked at the roof of the church. "I don't see anything."

"I know what I saw. Someone was up there."

a crack sound suddenly popped up on the walkie-talkie. "If I were you, I would get out of the street. Now."

Christa glared at Lee folding her arms. "I thought you said that thing didn't work!"

"Well, that's what we thought too so..." Noah said, trailing off in order to avoid the question Christa said. "Tough shit."

"Hello? Hello are you there?" radio scrambling became Lee's answer

Noah barged in front of him, grabbing the walkie-talkie. "Alright, who the hell is this?"

"We need to get out of the street." Noah declared. "Right now."

"What the hell was that? Is someone trying to fuck with us?"

"Guys..."

"Sounded like a warning."

"GUYS!" everyone turned their attention to Noah

Chuck stared forward at what he saw. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls..."

Kenny turned back to glare at Chuck. "What are you yammerin' on about?" Kenny and everyone else looked with wide eyes at what was in front of them.

"It tolls for thee..." Chuck finished as walkers appeared at the sound of the church bell that brought them here.

"Everybody, RUN!"

The group moved fast as Kenny shot two walkers in the head, with Chuck hitting another one with his his shovel as Christa a walker coming toward Omid. Noah took out his K-BAR and stabbed one in the head, while his other K-BAR was launched in another walker's head with pure accuracy. Doug made each precision shot count by shooting the heads off of walkers, due to the help from the laser sight of his GLOCK. Chuck ran swinging his shovel at another walker coming toward him, with Doug slamming his hatchet at another's head. One of the crawling walkers grabbed Kenny's leg, causing him to fall on the sidewalk. Kenny was freed after the walker that caught a hold of Kenny in the head. Ben, Carley and Clementine were being surrounded by a group of walkers as Ben ran away scared out of his mind, leaving Carley to defend her and Clementine. Noah and Lee shot every walker that was surrounding, leaving only a few more to come as Carley wrapped Clementine in a protective motherly embrace.

"NOO!" Lee yelled as one of the walkers was close to Clementine and Carley, only for Chuck to hit the walker and launched the top of the shovels inside its chest

Chuck glanced at Carley. "Get her out of here! I'll catch up with ya!" Carley nodded as she picked up Clementine, with both of them heading back to the group

"Move your asses! River street's up ahead!" Kenny shouted

"That's not all..." Ben stated seeing more walkers approaching

"Oh, gimme a fucking break!" Kenny swore

"Wait," Christa looked left and right. "Where the hell is Chuck?"

Doug saw Chuck still fighting every walker coming his way. "He's still back there!"

"Shit! We gotta help him out!" Noah exclaimed

Chuck hitting another walker's head off. "Don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Just go!" he yelled as the group went left at King street

The group made their way inside the backyard of a house up ahead, with Kenny opening the gate door as they went in. Omid tripped on the ground, with the wound on his leg beginning to open up. They thought any way they could get into the house, but couldn't due to the windows barricaded and the door locked. However, there was one way they could get in and only one way. The pet door but there was only one problem, it was locked and it would only open if the dog was present. Unfornately, that dog was dead and buried beside its dog house in the yard. Lee went to dig out the grave as the dog, all dead and rotten. The stentch filled the air as Noah crouched down to carefully remove the collar off of the dead dog, only for the spine of the ded dog to come off with Christa throwing up. When Omid asked if Christa was fine, she quickly answered which lead Noah to be she was possibly pregnant. He kept the whole matter to himself only. Long story short, Lee opened the pet door as Clementine crawled in and opened the back door with everyone going inside. Inside was a abandoned kitchen along with a living room showing a family portrait of the people who lived there follow by a fireplace below the portrait.

Omid laid on the couch as Christa went to check on his open wound, with Carley sitting on a chair putting Clementine on her lap. In the kitchen, there was a bag of dog food hanging by on the counter. Doug sat down on a two seated couch as Noah search the dining room to see if the house was abandonded. So far, they were only a couple bottles of whiskey on the dining table. Christa made her way toward Lee, Noah and Kenny.

"So, when were you going to tell us about the radio?"

Kenny glanced at her. "Tell you what?"

"That it's working." Christa moved her arm toward the arm. "That there's someone else out there. You didn't think that might be worth sharing us?"

"We only found out yesterday that it was working." Noah stated

Christa had her hand on her hip. "So the three of you were keeping it from the rest of us? Great."

"Who gives a shit about the damn radio?" the three people in the conversation turned their attention to Kenny. "I'm more worried about whoever out there was ringing that bell and bringing dead on us! It's like they didn't want us making it the river!"

"What makes you think it's not the same person? Whoever was on the radio was close enough to see us on the street." Christa stated

"And we didn't see anyone except whoever it was on the bell tower." Noah added

"Because that doesn't make a lick of damn sense." Kenny replied

"He's right. Why would they bring the dead by ringing that bell and then try warning us about it?" Noah inquired

"Whoever that was on the radio, I think they were trying to help us. They did warn us, did they?" Lee implied

"Maybe you're right. But whoever it was, they're watching us." Christa said. "Following us. And they don't want us to know who they are. I can't think of any explanation for that would make me feel better. Can you?"

"I think we all could use a little rest. At least until those walkers are long gone and Omid's feeling better. We can gather our thoughts together by then." Noah stated

Kenny shook his head. "He'd best feel better quick. I ain't got long waiting around here to long."

"Place seems secure at least."

"I feel better when we know that for sure." Christa glanced at Noah and the others. "We need to check the whole house."

"Alright fine." Kenny glanced at Ben. "You and me will check upstairs." he looked at Lee and Noah. "Lee, you and Noah got down here. Make sure you check every door."

"We got it."

Lee and Noah started searching around the bottom portion of the house, while Ben and Kenny were making sure upstairs was secure. The bathroom and the closets to the living room and the hallway were secure, no danger inside. That lead to Lee asking Clementine who was talking to on the radio. She told Lee and Christa that the man on the radio wanted to help her find her parents. Noah already knew her parents were dead when Lee told him and Carley. When Christa tried to warn Clementine the man on the radio only wanted to use her, Ben called Lee and Noah upstairs. Once up, Lee went up the ladder to the attic with Noah asking Ben what the problem was. All he said was that Kenny went to check the ladder and hasn't come out.

"Ben, about what happened at the street..."

"I know. I froze and panicked." Ben said explaining his action a while ago. "Has that ever happen to you before?"

Noah folded his arms together. "Just don't do it again or it won't walkers you have to worry about this time, understand?"

"Yeah, I understand." he answered quickly, a bit frightened as Noah went up the attic

As soon as Noah got up to the attic, his eyes widened in absolute shock and horror. Lee and Kenny were staring at a walker. But it turned out to be the child that lived in the house that were staying at, all frail and boney. From the looks of it, the child died from stravation being trapped in the attic.

"I don't know if I can do this Lee. Couldn't do it before, couldn't do it then..." Kenny trailed off looking away from the child walker

"You can do this."

Kenny glanced a sad look at Noah. "No I can't, kid. I couldn't do it to Duck. Couldn't do it now."

"You can with this one. This isn't your son. It's someone else's kid." Noah stated, handing Kenny a wrench. "Do it out of mercy. Do it for mercy, Kenny."

Kenny grabbed the wrench from Noah's hand, walking to the frial child walker. He took a deep breath and exhaled, slamming the wrench toward the walker's head. It's skull bashed into the floor, leaving a trail of blood to leak out. Lee and Noah walked toward who handed the wrench to Lee. In his and Noah's, they realize this could have been Clementine if neither of them found her. Lee went to pick the dead walker up and went back down, with Noah following him. Lee and Noah went outside to bury the walker in the grave where the family dog was buried, with Noah giving the shovel to Lee. Clementine along with Christa and Carley stood outside seeing Lee bury the walker. Their expression were of pity and sadness as Noah went back inside the house.

"Oh my god..." Carley said silently. "Why did it happen?"

Noah looked away sighing as he put his hand on his forehead. "I don't know, Carley. I don't know what the hell mankind did to deserve this."

"Do you really think-" Carley was cut off when they heard Lee suddenly yell outside

"WHO ARE YOU?! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM US!" Carley, Noah, Clementine, Doug and Christa rushed outside seeing Lee hold the bars to the fence as he let go

"Lee? What's going on?" Carley asked

"I saw someone standing there by the fence. Watching us."

"Was it a walker?" Doug said

"No. too fast. Took off like a bat outta hell when I spotted him."

"Was it a man or a woman?" Christa asked Lee

"Didn't get a good look." he replied

"Okay, walkers are one thing. But having someone living watching us is damn creepy. Makes me wonder if that was the guy on the radio."

"It Could be." Doug agreed as Kenny and Ben walked out

"Kenny?"

"I'm fine. I just...fine. What's with all the ruckus?"

"Lee spotted someone watching us."

Ben blinked in shock. "Seriously?"

That quickly got Kenny's attention. "What? Who?"

"Don't know. They ran off before Lee could get a good look."

"All right, that's it. We stuck around long enough. It's time to get back on track, time to get down to the river and find us a boat."

"I don't know if Omid's well enough to move yet." Chirsta stated

"Well he better get ready right now. Because I'm goin' to river stream to get us a boat."

"Let's look here for supplies first. We've only checked to see if the house was secure after all." Noah stated. "So we should be split into two groups. One group looks for supplies here in the house, while the other searches for a boat."

"He's right, Kenny. We're low on food, water, meds. We need to make sure there's anyone left here." Lee added

"Lee, Noah, you two are with me." Kenny glanced at Carley and Doug. "Carley, Doug, you two look for supplies. Search for anything useful."

"Wait, can't I come?" Clementine asked staring at Lee. "My mom and dad can't be far now. Maybe we can look for them on the river."

Noah crouched down to Clementine's level. "Clem, I think it's best you stay and help Ben. I need to watch out for Omid and Christa. You know, help them get ready to move out."

"You said I'm always suppose to stay close to you." she said to Noah in a sad tone

"I know, I know. But sometimes we do what's best for the group." he stated. "It's only once, Clementine."

"Okay."

"Daylight's burnin'. Gonna go grab my gear, then we'll head out."

Carley grabbed Clementine's hand with a gentle grasp. "Come on, Clementine. Let's go back inside and help Christa with Omid.

"What about me?" Ben said

"You can help keep an eye on Clementine and Omid." Lee said

"You got it, Lee." Ben smiled heading back inside

`0`

Kenny, Lee and Noah were now walking at East Bay street as they cross over to Lincoln street. And like all towns they encounter, it was always deserted. The stores were empty looking anything visible without use. Car parts were prod and taken out, including the engine along with the missing doors on the car. However, Lee and Noah seem to worry about Kenny wondering about his psyche. Katjaa and Duck were dead, his family gone since they left the motor-inn. And after having to mercy kill that child walker from the house, they'd fear he was losing it. When Lee asked did he want to talk about what happen in the attic, Kenny quickly answered the question in a no still ignoring Lee's question. Then all of a sudden, a bell rang that brought walkers toward the sound like before. Instead, they were kept in the direction to where the bell rang. They hid toward a wall, with Lee letting them know the coast was clear after the walkers left which was good news. But bad news quickly came when they reached the boatyard, leaving it to be a wreck as all boat parts were taken.

"There's gotta be a boat... there's gotta be."

Lee had his arms behind his head. "Are you sure about that? It doesn't look like it to me. Maybe we should start thinking about a Plan B."

"This IS the plan, Lee! I know it is." Kenny glanced at Lee and Noah. "It's the only one we got, and you two pissin' on it in front of everyone like you did back at the house ain't exactly helping. I ain't givin' up for easy, that's for damn sure."

"Kenny, it's over. There's nothing here!" Noah exclaimed

"Bullshit!" Kenny spat. "There's a boat here that's still intact!"

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. "For fuck's sake, Kenny! There isn't. All of it's gone. The parts are gone. There's nothing left out here."

"This one's still might be salvageable."

"You better be right about this." Lee muttered. "I have no idea what we'll do when-"

"I said it might be. Just gimme a fucking break, okay? I'm a fishing captain, not a miracle worker."

Lee decided to look around for anything left to fix the boat, but that quickly ended when there was nothing left. What him and Noah saw next made them look in horror. Dead bodies stacked and spiked hanging around the rest, leaving a few walkers to be moving. Kenny saw afterward since the boat's hull was damaged and everything else was stripped for parts. Luckily, Noah took a quarter out of a newspaper machine and give it to Lee so he could use the telescope. A building off shore was abandoned and a boat was destroyed and unsalvageable. Then suddenly, Lee caught a glimpse of two people on the telescope as his eyes went wide.

"Get down, get down!" Lee whispered as Noah and Kenny did what he said, crouching down while he saw the two people on heading to the newstand

"Why the hell are we hiding?"

"Two people came down from that building at the end of the street."

"Where'd they go?"

"Saw them run into that newstand." Kenny and Noah eyed the newstand with Lee, seeing the two people.

"Could be our bell ringer." Kenny moved an inch toward Lee and Noah. "How about we go find out?"

"They could be scavengers. But just in if there's not..."

"You two head up to the middle of the street, while I'll go around the side to cover your flank. We'll come up on them quietly. Take them both by surprise." Kenny said taking his gun out

"We just want to talk to them."

"Oh, we're gonna talk." Kenny moved up the side quietly, with Lee and Noah walking toward the newstand

"Quick and Quiet..." Noah trailed off as him and Lee were not closer

Lee and Noah approached the newstand after the two scavengers went down, with Lee signalling him in a three minute mark. Lee held out his wrench while Noah equipped his K-BAR. Once the mark was made, they jumped up to catch the scavengers. Unfornately, they were gone. Then all of a sudden, Lee's wrench was taken as he was hit in the head sending him falling on the ground. Noah sent a jab across the attacker's face, but being quickly hit by a strong hook as he fell. His vision blurry as the figure slowly approached, along with another figure that had trapped at gunpoint. His vision was back as he got a good look at his attacker. The scavenger was wearing a red and white hooded jacket with blue pants, follow by a face mask covering his mouth. A strand of blonde hair showed under the hoodie, piercing blue eyes staring right at Noah's brown orbs. That's when Noah found out that both of the scavengers were female. The one in the red and white jacket prepared to strike Noah with a climbing pick.

"NOO!" Noah and Lee looked to their side to see Clementine behind them, but Noah turned his attention to the woman in red and white jacket whose eyes were wide. "Don't hurt them! Please!" Clementine said as the one with the climbing pick got off of Noah

The one with the ice climber removed her hood, revealing to be a caucasian female in the same age as Noah with her over the shoulders blonde hair being shown as she took off her face mask. The other one that held Lee at gunpoint had on a green and black jacket with cargo pants as the woman removed her hood as well. Noah glanced at the other woman and his eyes widened with sudden shock and joy. She was hispanic in her late-forties to early-fifties, brown hair and dark hazel eyes. He'd seen this woman before. After all, she was the one that took him in and raised Noah his whole life before the outbreak. The other woman was none other than Tessa, his mother.

"Mom?" she glanced at Noah with widened eyes

"Noah? You're alive?" she walked toward him, embracing in a motherly hug. "You're alive!" she said with tears streaming down her eyes. "I thought I lost you."

"Me too. Me too." he repeated as the red and white stared at Noah, Lee and Clementine. "I thought I lost you since the outbreak."

"You're not from Crawford." she said

Noah glanced at the blonde. "Crawford? What are you talking about?" Kenny quietly made his way close to the blonde. "Kenny, don't-!" the blonde performed a leg sweep toward Kenny's legs, causing him to fall as the gunshot awake a few spiked walkers as she prepared to use her climber pick on him. "He's with us!"

the blonde folded her arms, staring at Noah. "Who are you people?"

"This is Lee, Kenny-" Noah introduced to the blonde

"Who are you?"

"It's okay, Molly. This is my son, Noah. The one I told you about." Tessa stated

"Hi!" Clementine said, smiling as she waved at Molly and Tessa

Tessa crouched down to Clementine's level with a smile on her face. "Hello there. What's your name?"

"I'm Clementine."

"Hello, Clementine. How old are you?"

"I'm nine."

"You guys really aren't from Crawford, are you?" Molly said

"What's Crawford?" Lee asked

Molly pointed her thumb out back. "Everything from that way."

"What the hell happened here?"

Tessa decided to speak next. "You really want to know?" Lee nodded in answer. "When everything gone into shit, some people got together and sealed off that whole neighborhood. Folks willing to do anything to stay alive, we try to avoid 'em."

"How come?"

Molly glanced at Noah. "Let's just say they have a zero tolerance policy for anyone who won't... or can't live by their rules."

"So how'd you two know we weren't them?" Kenny inquired

Molly and Tessa looked at Clementine. "Because there aren't any children in Crawford. Not anymore."

"What do you mean no children? Why not?"

Molly glanced at the wall covered bodies of the dead. "No children, no elderly, no one with an advanced medical condition. Basically no one who might be a burden on the community."

"All Crawford is about the survival of the fittest. That's how they survived, while the rest of the world went to hell around them." Tessa finished

"Just the opposite when you think about it."

"That's not how we do things."

"So they actually..." Noah paused to stare at his mother, seeing her nod

"The children were forced to leave along with their parents, to fend for themselves. The same went for the elderly."

"So this is their zero tolerance policy. All this Crawford cares about is separating the wheat from the chaff? Survival of the fittests? These pricks are assholes." Noah groused, now glancing at Molly. "How do you know all this, anyway?"

Molly walked away from the pile. "Everyone in Savannah knew. What was going on inside Crawford passed around like a ghost story. One that actually existed."

Lee took a quick glance at Molly and Tessa. "Any idea who's been ringing those bells all over town?"

"Yeah, that would be me."

Kenny glared at Molly. "I knew it! Lee, I knew she was the one who's been following us, fucking with-" Noah cut off from his sentence

"Kenny! It was a guy, not her or my mother. And it doesn't matter right now."

"So get that finger out of my face, grampa. Before I shove it up your ass." Molly threatened Kenny as she glared at him. "Anyway, if I were any of you, I'd-" Molly paused when she saw walkers coming out of the street

Noah turned around and saw what she was looking at. "Fuck. Run!"

Lee, Kenny, Noah and Clementine folllowed Tessa and Molly to an alleyway as Lee lifted Clementine up. Tessa grabbed her while Molly grabbed Lee, making it up the fire escape. Kenny went next with Noah being the only one trapped. Molly tossed him her climbing pick Hilda as he struck the heads of a couple walkers. He made the garbage can away behind him, noticing a manhole in the sewers as he went down below closing the lid. Noah remained cautious while walking underneath the streets, now in the uncertainity of sewers. He kept remembering one of his rules in his survival guide, primarily one. Rule 37: Proceed with caution in sewers. Be on guard of walkers underground. He crouched down a hole as he turn the pipe right, letting sewer water pour out before he took off the pipe value. The sound of the water pour draw walkers as Noah pryed the passage way with Hilda. He get out and spotted another place value, placing the pipe in while turning it right. That lead to sound of sewer water pouring. Noah went back in the hole as walkers headed toward the water pouring, making it out of the hole undetected. There was only one ahead, fortunately it's attention wasn't focused on Noah. Along the way, he spotted Chuck dead with his guts spilled out figuring he must've tried to hide in the sewers. But he had no such luck, leaving his magnum empty as Noah saw the headshot on his forehead in order to save himself from turning.

"You were a good man, Chuck." Noah said, now turning his attention to the walker up ahead as he walked silently. "Rest in peace."

Noah made his way and way to deal with the walker, but suddenly his leg was grabbed a walker below a grate as he kicked its head trying to make it let go of him. The struggle brought the walker's attention up ahead, while Noah struck the grate walker's hand using the climber pick Hilda. Prying the walker's hand off of his leg, stabbing the walker ahead in its cranium as it fell dead. Noah took a quick look as the walkers by the downpour were still there. Once he made it up ahead, the ladder was broke but there was a hidden passage way as he removed the sign from the wall. He walked through the passage way which lead Noah somewhere else, mostly a nuclear fallout shelter. He spotted a couple of beds, along with food that would last people for months. He walked toward the door, opening it as he spotted five people with a old man aiming a gun at Noah.

"Who are you?" the old man said shaking the gun out of fear

"It's alright. I don't want any trouble here." Noah stated with his hands up

"Neither do we. Which is why you do well enough to turn around and leave. Right now."

"I'm sorry I disturbed you guys. I'll just be on my way." Noah pleaded

"You can't let him leave. He's from Crawford! If he goes back there and they find out we're down here..." said the overweight brown haired woman

"Are you from Crawford? Don't lie to me because I'll know."

"I'm not from Crawford, but I've seen the shit they did. I'm from Jonesboro. Just north of Macon."

"I have a brother in Macon. You were there?"

"Yeah. Just bad as it was here."

the overweight woman glanced at the old man and pointed at Noah. "You can't trust him Vernon. You can't let him leave!"

Vernon side glanced at the overweight woman. "What do you want me to do, shoot him in the head?"

"Why not? That'd be more of a mercy than anyone in Crawford ever showed us. Think, Vernon! What do you think if they find us?"

"I'm sorry, friend. I can't let you live."

"Listen, I'm not from Crawford. I'm not from where those assholes are. I'm not going to hurt you." Noah walked closer to Vernon as he grabbed the gun from his grasp

"Vernon, what the hell are you doing?!" the overweight woman shielded Vernon in sudden fear. "Vernon!"

Noah put the gun in his holster aside from Chuck's magnum. "See? I'm not like them."

"You're really not from Crawford?"

"No. I'm really not."

`0`

Noah made it back ot the house with Vernon. After he convinced to help on the way back to the house, Noah found out Vernon was a doctor. As soon as he got in, he spotted Molly searching the kitchen for anything useful as his mother Tessa hugged him. He handed Hilda back to Molly who eyed him up and down, then went to search in the living room as Christa rushed telling him Omid was getting worse. Vernon let him go with Christa while he walked to the living room to see Kenny drunk out of his mind. Lee and Carley had been searching for her as Noah walked over to Ben. Ben told him that she was outside on the backyard playing, with no one or nobody watching her. That lead to Lee and Carley to go find her along with Noah himself. Noah helped Carley and Lee find Clementine, but they had no idea where she was. Then all of a sudden, Noah heard a noise from the shed as Lee and Noah pulled the shed door open, falling on the ground as Clementine stood in front of them. She ran and hugged Noah, in joy that he was alive. That's when Clementine showed them what was inside the shed that seem to be helpful, a boat. Things were finally coming their way as Kenny's spirits was left up to see the boat, finding his confidence back.

"So the bad news is that the fuel's empty and the battery's dead?" Doug said

"Otherwise than that, she's still sea worthy." Kenny replied

"Where the hell are we going to find a battery and enough fuel?" Carley inquired

That's when Noah came up with an idea, but he didn't like it. "The only place that would have what we need for the boat is at Crawford. Which means we have to head there to get a battery and a full tank of gas. Along with anything else we need."

Vernon now had a stern and serious expression on his face after hearing the word Crawford. "Now hold on a minute..."

"Well, we have to try. If these people have what we need, what harm could heading there do?" Doug said agreeing with the plan along with Christa

"Trust me, you don't know these people. I do. And you showing up with a wounded man and a child, might as well hang on noose their heads."

"Christ, what the hell kind of place is this Crawford?" Carley groused in disgust

"The worst kind." Tessa answered grimly. "But there's no other option."

Kenny along with everyone else glanced at Noah. "And just how exactly do you figure we do this?"

"We sneak in undetected using the sewers."

"Good start..." Vernon glanced at Noah. "You wouldn't happen to have a map by any chance, would you?" Noah handed him the map. "I could lead us through so we could pass under the perimeter and right into the center, where they keep their supplies. We come up right under them and take what we need like food and medical supplies."

"We take them by surprise and get what we need."

"That's actually not a bad idea." Molly said with a smirk crossing her face staring at Noah, now looking away. "I mean maybe it'll work."

"Then it's settled, we head there at night." Noah looked at the old doctor. "Vernon, go let your people know."

"I will. Give your people a chance to prepare." Vernon said leaving, while Lee was talking to Clementine on the stairs

"You said you'd need all of us to do this. And you said I'm a big help, remember?" Lee walked away slightly. "Molly said Crawford is the only place in Savannah that has people. Maybe that's' where my mom and dad are."

Noah decided to jump in. "Your parents won't be there, Clem. Crawford's a place of bad people. Your parents are good people. I mean, they raised you right didn't they? Besides, we need you to stay here with Omid."

"What if something bad happens to him while you're gone?"

Lee and Noah were in a difficult position. They both knew she had a point. If they didn't any medical supplies in Crawford, Omid wouldn't be able to get the help he needs. And if Omid got worse, he might turn and attack Clementine. So that left them with one decision, and only one.

"Okay, you can come. But you have to promise to stay quiet and do exactly what you're told the whole time we're there."

"Okay, I'm going to go get ready." Clementine said running away to prepare

"I hope you two are sure being Clementine with you." Noah and Lee turned to see Carley and Tessa

"So do we. We'll keep an eye on her while we there. You just keep an eye on Omid for us while we're gone." Noah said as he hugged his mother while he saw Carley plant a kiss on Lee's cheek

`0`

The group stood ready, prepare to head toward Crawford. In the group was Lee, Kenny, Clementine, Noah, Christa, Molly, Ben and Doug. Carley and Tessa remained behind to watch over Omid for Christa. They find some tools they could use in the shed such as a hatchet and a hacksaw, seeing as it could come in handy for the break-in at Crawford. Noah noticed Kenny and Lee talking for a second but their conversation ended when they saw Vernon walked out the gate with Brie. Vernon told everyone Brie knew the layout on where Crawford keeps their supplies, impling she was once a student there. Everyone was ready to go even Clementine, but the attention of her going cause Vernon to remind their warning of bringing her with them. Lee and Noah stood by what they said and took her anyway, ignoring Vernon's warning. They followed as planned, use the sewers to sneak into Crawford. But, things changed when walkers now occupied the darwinistic place of the survival of the fittest. They made set up at a 1st grade classroom. They split into two people a group while Ben and Doug were choose to get the door open, while Clementine stayed in the classroom with them. Christa went with Vernon to the nurse's station to find meical supplies, while Kenny and Brie went to the maintenance shed to find fuel for the boat with Lee going with them. That lead Noah and Molly to find a battery in the auto shop next door. After climbing up the shelf of a abandoned shed outside, he jumped ahead of the fence making it the auto shop. However, the door couldn't be raised before he scope the area out. By the fence up right of him, there were a group of five walkers groaning.

"Don't want to attract their attention." Noah said moving away from the fence as a falling body hit the ground, catching him of guard. "Jesus!"

"Leave him!" Molly jumped out of nowhere, with Hilda in her hand as she went toward the corpse

"Nice to see you too." Noah deadpanned as he saw Molly kicking and stabbing Hilda at the corpse, her attacks going more aggressively. "Molly?" she still kept hitting the corpse. "Molly!"

Molly stopped glaring at Noah. "WHAT?!"

"I think you got him."

"One more." she said, impaling the pick at the corpse's back

"Judging by those scrubs he must've been a doctor."

"Yeah, well. He ain't shit now!" Molly exclaimed kicking the corpse, now staring at Noah as she took her mask off. "Did you find us a way."

"Yeah, through that garage door but I can't raise it." Noah stated. "I'll need a lift." he explained as Molly took a carjack off from backpack

"How about this?"

Noah smiled. "That'll do." he said as he use the carjack to raise the garage door. "Jackpot! Come on."

Then suddenly, a couple of walkers were moving off the fence. "Shit!" Molly cursed as they went in the auto shop. "Take a look around. I'll make sure no straggler get under this door."

Noah looked around for a battery anywhere in the auto shop, making his first stop to a semi truck in front of him. Unfornately, there wasn't one in sight. Fortunately for him, Noah spotted a var that had a battery atop a hydralic lift. And since there was no power inside Crawford, he had no choice but to puncture the hydralic hose. Unfornately, that caused the car to slam heavily on the ground as the alarm rung that attracted the walkers attention. Noah quickly unscrew the tights on the battery, removing the terminals attached to the car engine. He pick it in Molly's backpack as they jumped on the car, climbing up the semi truck. Noah shoot a window to the skylight as it shattered, leaving Molly to use to climb up while she gave him a hand as they were now on the roof. Both of them leaped to the other side, jumping down a hole that was near where the group was. Molly left to take care of something, taking the battery with him in case the group decided to leave without her. After helping Kenny and Brie keeping the door closed from being opened by walkers and clear the door leading to the nurse's station where Christa and Vernon hid. When they found out what Crawford was doing, they believed Molly was right about the place. Crawford was literally the worst kind. From kicking out children and elderly, to forcing abortions. They looked at Lee found from the walker doctor's corpse that Molly had attacked recently. Apparently, a woman carrying a infant killed the doctor and ran off away from Crawford. No one could blame her, the people at Crawford got what they deserved. Fortunately, they finally found the lock combination as Christa and Vernon got what was needed and headed back to the group with Lee going with them. That left Noah to look a final video as he played it, seeing the doctor from the video zip his pants back up. But his eyes slowly widened when he saw who was with him, Molly.

The doctor went over to the locker, grabbing something as he gave it to Molly. "Listen. As fun as this was, I have to put a stop to this proposition. This is the last I'm giving you."

"Why?"

"Oberson had someone down here yesterday checking inventory, he's cracking down hard. I just can't take the risk."

"We had a deal!" Molly said pointing in a angered tone

"Yes. We 'had' a deal, but now we don't anymore."

"My sister needs this. Without it she'll die. Or worse, she'll start showing symptoms and they'll take here away. I can't let that happen."

"I'm sorry Molly, but I have to look after myself."

"I guess that what it comes too, doesn't it? The Crawford way?" she left, shoving her shoulder at the doctor's arm as she left, with the doctor turning off the camera

"So, that's why you know about this place. That's why you beat the shit out of that walker, is it Molly?" Noah said throwing the tape on the floor. "And what they did to make you leave. This is the worst kind of place." Noah step out of the nurse's station heading back to the group as Molly jumped out. "Jesus, Molly! Stop doing that!"

"Sorry about that. I was sightseeing."

"I'll take battery now."

"Yeah, about that..." Noah's eyes went wide only for Molly to pull the battery out of her backpack. "I'm just kiddin'."

"Very funny." Noah glance at the photo Molly had in her hand. "What's that?"

"Nothing." she answered in hesistation

Noah folded his arms as he showed a stern look on his face. "Molly I know you're from Crawford. I know about the deal you had with the doctor that got turned to a walker. I saw the video."

"I said there were stories about Crawford, I never said that's not how I knew about it. I never lied to you. Even if I did, so what? I don't owe you anything."

"You can save my life twice, but you can't tell me the truth for once?"

"Are we really going to do this now?"

"That'd be up to you, Molly." Noah replied loosening his expression into a calm one

"I used to live here with my sister. She was fourteen years old. When the dead started walking and Crawford shut itself in, it seemed like a pretty good deal at first. We were safe and had everything we needed to survive. Then the rules started coming down. No one who could justify their place, earn their keep. No one who required special care." Molly looked down. "My sister was diabetic, and by Crawford's rules that made her a liability. I kept it a secret, kept it as long as I could. But in the end, I couldn't protect. That's when I got out. Crawford always talked about how their system worked, how anything was better than becoming 'one of them'." she looked at Noah with a look of sorrow on her face. "But I already saw what they'd already become. I just wish I could've seen it before it was too late. Before they took my sister away." Noah wipe the blood off her cheek. "This is all I have left of her." Molly stared at the picture of her sister. "I didn't have to take it before I left. I just... wanted it, okay?"

"It's okay, Molly. I understand what it's like to lose a sibling. She's beautiful." Noah said in a sympathetic tone, remembering the lost of his sister as the bell suddenly rang

"What the hell?"

"Yeah, that's our cue to get the fuck out of here right now." Noah said as him and Molly went to 1st grade where the group was, when Ben jumped out with a hatchet in his hand. "Damn it, Ben!"

"Sorry. I just got spooked by those bells and I got scared."

"Why the hell are you here, man?"

"Kenny sent me to find something to open the door. A key or something to bust it open with." he showed them the hatchet he had in his hand. "I found this?"

Noah quirked his eyebrows at Ben with his eyes slowly going wide. "Ben... where did you find that?" he asked

Ben shrugged. "I just found it, it was stuck on a door in the hallway back there."

"You fucking id-"

The door busted in with walkers heading toward them. Molly took out Hilda, stabbing one of the walkers in the head while she sent another stab under the chin that lead to the brain of another walker. She kicked the one coming toward, along the way struck the walker with her climbing pick Hilda. Then suddenly, she got grabbed by the walker she kicked as Molly shouted for Noah to shoot the walker she was trying to pull away from in the head. A shot impacted on the head as she ran to thank Noah, but it was revealed to be Clementine who shot the walker. They ran back to the 1st grade classroom as Brie closed the door, holding it so the walkers couldn't come in. Kenny was ramming the door along with Doug in order to break it open. Lee told the hatchet from Ben's hand, furiously while Noah slapped him at the back of his head.

"This is my fault... all my fault." Ben panicked

Christa glanced at Lee and Noah. "What's he talking about?"

"Ben, we talked about this." Lee said

"No, wait. I want to know what he meant." Christa glared at Ben. "What do you mean this is all your fault?"

"Kenny, man, I'm so sorry." Ben said in a freaked out tone

"Not really the time, kid! Whatever you did, save it for later!" Kenny yelled while him and Doug tried to bust the door open

"This really isn't the time, Ben!" Noah clashed. "You can tell him when we get back to the house!"

"I'm sorry, he needs to know! He has to." Ben looked at Kenny. "It's been me all along. Putting all of us in danger. Katjaa and Duck. It was all me... it was all me..." he trailed off as Kenny kicked the door, busting it open

"Wait a minute..." Kenny looked at Ben confused expression. "What are you saying?"

"It was me making a deal with the bandits at the motor-inn, slipping them our supplies. I thought maybe I could keep them off our backs. When it got discovered, that's when they attacked. That's when Duck..."

Doug looked in shock as he pointed at Ben. "So you were the one that caused us to-" he was cut off when Kenny tried to pounce on him for telling the truth as Lee, Noah and Vernon held Kenny down

"Kenny, man. I agree with you. You should kick his ass, but now is not the time okay?! We need to focus on leaving!" Lee said, trying to prevent from going nuts

"You fucking pissant! You're fuckin' dead! You hear me?! Dead! My wife and child... you got them both fuckin' killed!" Kenny yelled angrily

"Kenny, you can whoop his skinny little ass later! Right now we need to get out of here!" Noah said to Kenny as he stopped

Molly smirked. "Nice group you got here."

"This ain't the time, Molly." Noah sighed

"If this asshole thinks he's getting on my boat after what'd he did, he's out of his motherfuckin' mind!" Kenny shouted, shoving Ben

"Kenny, we can sort this out later when we get the hell out of here."

"There's nothing to sort out. I just told you the way it's gonna be! The boat's not big enough for all of this. Someone's got to be left behind." Kenny glared at Ben who looked away. "Might as well be this piece of shit right here!"

"I vote we leave him. I'm sorry, Ben. I know you mean well, but all I want to do is get back to Omid and you put that at risk."

"Wait." Clementine step in. "Do I get a vote?"

"Of course you can, Clem."

"Ben's my friend. He's nice. We don't leave friends behind. That's my vote."

Christa paused with a look on his face. "I... I think I'll abstain. Lee? Noah?"

"I abstain too, this isn't the time right now. Plus I've seen the kind of place Crawford is, and that becoming one of them is a worse way to go."

"Me too. I'll vote when we get back. I promise, Clem."

"What about us? Don't we get a say-" Brie was cut off when walkers busted through the door, feashing on her

"Brie!"

Molly cautiously moved away. "Now can we go?"

"Damn right! Vernon, we need to get the hell out of here. NOW."

Lee was the last one to close the door, unfornately he couldn't due to the fact that the lock was broken. There was only a couple of pistol mags inside the locker right of them. They all went downstairs to escape. But as soon as they open the door, walkers had already occupied the way out. Lee slammed as the group went back upstairs, but Lee's foot that caught a broken part of the steps. Walkers almost made their way toward Lee, only to be shot in the head by Noah who kept shooting every walker down between the cranium and lobe. He pulled Lee off the step as they were now making their way up, until a walker almost lunged at them. Luckily, Doug shot it in the head while the group moved up. Hatchet and K-BAR knife struck the head of every walker, kicking one down below along the way. Lee threw the shotgun at Noah as he fired off a walker ahead of them, falling down just like the last one they sent flying. Once at top with the group, everyone already began moving leaving only Lee, Noah and Ben. The bell rung again with a walker tied to it as it grabbed Ben, causing the frightened eighteen year old to start screaming. Lee shot the tied walkers in the head as both it and Ben fell, leaving him to grab on as Lee manage to grab his hand before he fell.

"Come on, Ben! Climb up!"

"Let me go, Lee! There's no time!"

"Ben, quit fucking around and climb up!" Lee shouted shooting a couple of walkers in the head with the shotgun

"Dammit, let go Lee! Go Clem and the others to safety."

Noah looked down. "Lee..." Lee glanced at him. "You have to make a choice! And only you can make it!" he said bashing a walker's head and jaw with the butt of the shotgun he held in his hands

Lee decided to pull Ben up, saving him from the fall. Ben grabbed Lee's hand, prying his hand to his. Ben set his request on his own as he fell down screaming. He landed on his back, leaving some of the walkers to feed on him while the rest tried coming after Lee and Noah. Noah and Lee got down from the roof, taking one last look at the bell tower. Now remembering the sacrifaces that were made in Crawford.

`0`

The group made it back to the house, with Carley and Tessa. Carley told them Omid was going worse as Christa rushed upstairs with Lee, Carley and Clementine followed her and Vernon along with Carley. Tessa knew who was in the group with, leaving the one missing she was the eighteen year old college freshman. Noah told his mother, assuming everyone knew who as well. Kenny went to work on the boat while Christa decided to keep an eye on Omid, with Vernon looking after him too. Doug went downstairs, taking a sip of whiskey still in shock over the revelation Ben revealed back at Crawford. Carley already knew the truth after Lee told her when he came back with Kenny, Clementine, Molly and Tessa. Noah made his way upstairs seeing Lee and Vernon having a talk.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Lee asked with him and Vernon noticing Noah behind them

"I know you all care for Clementine. I know you want what's best for her. But this plan of yours putting everyone on a boat? With no destination do you really think that's her best chance of finding somewhere she can be safe? Because I don't. I want to make you an offer."

Noah narrowed his eyes sternly. "What kind of offer?"

"I'll take her off your hands, she'll come with me. Back to my people. We're well supplied, hidden and a lot of us have had kids of our own. And now that Crawford's fallen we've got nothing to fear from them. She'll be safe with us."

"You're coming at us with a lot here Vernon. We have to think about it."

"I understand, of course. Take your time. But I want you to think about somethings." Vernon then left as Lee went over to see Clementine laying on Carley's chest

Noah turned back and saw Molly about to head downstairs. "Molly?" he saw her stop in her tracks. "Going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm about to head out. I just wanted to say thanks. For everything." Molly smiled at Noah. "It's been fun."

"You should come with us. God knows we could use you. Plus," Noah walked toward Molly, now an inch closer to her. "You've earned it."

"I've been thinking it over. It's not for me. Sounds like It'd be pretty crowded. And I never did like the water."

"You sure about this? What did Tessa have to say?"

"She said it was my choice to pick and I chose. I'm sure. I've always done better on my own anyhow."

"And here I thought I was gonna get a goodbye kiss." Noah joked

"Listen, I'm not much on goodbyes, tell the others for me?"

"Sure. Take care of yourself."

"You too, Noah. Oh, what the hell...?" Molly went to plant her lips on Noah's, pulling out as a sudden smirk crossed his face while she took a step back

Noah remain side tracked on the kiss Molly planted on him. "You sure you don't want to stay?"

"I'm sure. I guess I should be going now. Oh, one more thing..." she took a step and glanced at Noah with a smile on her face. "You be sure to take care of that little girl. You know she thinks the world of you."

"I will. Good luck." Noah said as Molly went downstairs to leave giving him a wink

"Ain't nothing to do with luck."

Noah now made his way in the room where Lee, Carley and Clementine. "H-" he was cut off when he heard Clementine crying as she laid her head buried in Carley's chest. "Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"What do you think of Vernon's offer?"

"I don't know. I'm still thinking over it. Do I really want to send her Vernon and his people? But still..."

"I know. She crying about Ben?"

"No, no. I told her why Ben did what he did, she understood. She was crying about finding her parents."

"And they're still dead. If Clementine sees them as walkers... I have no idea how she'll take it."

"I agree with you completely." Lee yawned, clearly tired from last night. "I think about getting some shut eye. I guess you're about to do the same?"

"For sure. Later, Lee."

`0`

Noah felt a sudden nudge woke him up. He slowly opened his eyes to see it was Carley who had woke him. Her expression was filled with fear and worry.

"Noah have you seen Clementine?"

"No, what's wrong?"

"We can't find her. Lee and your mother are looking for her outside. Kenny and the others went outside to look for her."

Noah and Carley went outside to find Clementine, but they notice the group by Lee and Tessa. They could see worried looks on their faces as Lee held Clementine's hat in his hand. They also spotted a walker on the pavement, brains smashed due to a curve stomp. That's when Noah saw blood dripping from the ground, looking with wide eyes as his mother Tessa had a bite mark on her left arm.

"No, no, no, no..."

"Noah, Noah!" Tessa said catching her son's attention. "Clementine's been taken."

"By Vernon?"

"We're going to find out. In the meatime, we need you here to keep an eye on the boat while we're gone." Kenny stated

"Lee, I need to-"

"No, you don't kid."

"Kenny-"

"I know! We'll look after your mom for the time she has. But you need to look after the boat while we're gone." Kenny glance at Tessa then back at Noah with a sad look. "We need you to look after the boat while we go look for Clementine. We need you here in cause the fucker on the radio comes here and takes the boat." he looked at Carley who motioned to follow them, while Noah went to look after the boat

Noah growled angrily, kicking a box off the shed. "FUCK! SHIT!" he bang his fists at the table over the fact of his mother being bitten. "Why, dammit! Why now!?" he shouted as he suddenly heard the gate open. "What the hell...?" Noah took the safety off his desert eagle, tooking cover by the door of the shed when he spotted Vernon outside. "Vernon?" Noah step out of cover. "What are you doing here?" Vernon remained silent. "Why are you here?"

"I'm sorry, kid." he said solemnly

Noah quirked his eyebrow at the doctor. "For what?"

"This." then all of a sudden, Noah was knocked on the back of his head as he slowly began to faded into unconsciousness. "I'm sorry, kid. But there's no other choice." Noah heard last before he was finally knocked out unconscious


	5. No Time Left

**Author's note: After this, I will hold on until another episode of telltale games Walking Dead comes out. In the meantime, check out my other stories until I post a new chapter. Anyway, as always, please review and enjoy!**

Chapter 5: No Time Left

Noah woke up groggily, slowly opening his eyes. He saw two people from Vernon's group move the boat out of the shed. His head still rung from the impact, leaving his vision to become a little blurry at the moment. Noah looked down to see his hands and feet tied down in front of him as he struggled to break himself free. He noticed a sharp piece of metal from the gutters as he slowly moved forward to grab it. Then all of a sudden, a foot landed on his chest that prevented him from moving further to the shrapnel. Noah looked up to see one of Vernon's people, Clive holding him down with his foot carrying a lead pipe.

"He's awake." he said, getting Vernon and the others attention

"Vernon... what the... What the fuck...?" Noah trailed off, grunting to struggle free from Clive's hold on him

"I see you're awake, kid." Vernon saw Noah glancing being pulled out of the shed. "I'm sorry about this. I really am."

"Why? Why would you do this?" he asked Vernon. "Why in the hell would you stole this boat from us?"

"Just like you and your group have to survive in this world, we have to do the same." he stated as Boyd was left of Vernon, looking away while he was talking to Noah

"So what?" Noah spat out. "You just beat the shit out of someone that helped you, then take their stuff afterward? I expect better of you."

Vernon's expression furrowed. "I don't expect you to understand, kid. I gotta go what I can for my people." he glanced at Joyce and Clive moving the boat off onto the street. "We're sorry we're leaving you all and Clementine."

Noah's eyes suddenly went wide at the last end of the sentence. "What did you just say?"

"I said I apologize for leaving your group including Clementine."

Noah narrowed his eyes at Vernon. "You don't have Clementine, do you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Vernon replied looking confused

"Lee and the others went to your place to look for. To see if you still have Clementine."

"You lost her?!" Vernon's voice was flled with both anger and worry

"We thought you took her. And if it wasn't you, then..." Noah's eyes went wide in shock. "Oh, shit... the guy on the fucking radio!"

"How could you all lose that girl?!" Vernon shouted furiously

"We don't know what the hell happened." Noah snarled, glaring straight at Vernon. "Once we woke up, we found out she was gone! In the next minute, my mother gets bitten and the group starts looking for you and your group in case you had her. You need to help me find her."

Vernon folded his arms. "So you could lose her again? Not a chance. You've lost that girl and now she's probably dead because of you people."

"You're fucking wrong." Noah growled. "She's still alive. She's still somewhere in Savannah and we will find her. You can believe that. We'll FIND her!"

"I hold on to your word for it, kid." Vernon said leaving along with his group and the boat

"Vernon!" Noah grunted, quickly cutting the rope out shackling his hands and feet. "Goddamn it, Vernon! VERNON!"

Noah continued struggling to break himself free from the ropes that bind him. Then suddenly, he heard uncanny moaning leading to be a walker nearby. He went to cutting himself free from the ropes binding him, making progress as he freed his wrists. Noah glanced quickly at the moaning sound as he saw a walker coming out of the gate. He went to cut the bind of rope off his ankles, moving the shattered rope from his feet. Noah stood up as the walker pounced on him, with both of his thumbs pressed on its eyes. Blood inflicted on its eyes as Noah grabbed the sharpnel he used to cut himself, striking the walker's head multiple times upon killing it. Noah looked at his scratched and near bloodied hand from the sharpnel he used as he went inside, pouring whiskey to disinfect the scratch. He wrapped a bandage on his right hand, covering the wound from being further infected. Afterward, he grabbed a cleaver in one of the drawers in the kitchen along with Chuck's magnum he hid with it. Noah loaded the gun and left the house, on a search to find Vernon's group or Vernon himself if he had the boat.

`0`

Noah was following the tire tracks that carried the boat, hoping it would lead him straight to Vernon. For Vernon, he could either be at the docks or has the boat hidden away in a garage somewhere. He kept his eyes on the tire tracks while keeping an eye on any walkers down the road, holding the cleaver in his hand in order to avoid using the magnum. From Noah's experience, he knew if he fired off a shot it will attract walkers. Then all of a sudden, he heard groaning along with a couple of gunshots be heard. He took cover by a wall, seeing twelve walkers in the boatyard as he saw Vernon fired off shots. But he didn't see anyone else from his group so it was only him.

"There's Vernon, but I don't see the rest of the group."

"Vernon!" Noah turned to the attention, seeing Vernon's group trapped with Vernon side glancing them while he was on the boat. "Help us! Don't leave us behind, Vernon!"

"Vernon, we need you!"

"Please, Vernon! Help us!"

Suddenly, he heard another gunshot fired which wasn't Vernon. He cocked his head to find Vernon's group, trying to defend themselves from walkers as well. He could hear them yelling for Vernon to help them which manage to catch his attention for a short moment, only for him to look away leaving with the boat. Noah had two choices at that instant. Stop Vernon from leaving the docks with the boat, or save his group from the walkers. He speedily calculated this in his head. If he stopped Vernon from taking the boat after leaving his group behind, they would die. If he wanted to save the group, Vernon would leave with the boat heading off to shore. Noah looked left and right, trying to come up with a decision to make in the crisis he was currently. Stop Vernon and take the boat back, or save the group Vernon himself left behind. After a moment of pause, he went toward the walkers approaching up on Vernon's group as he hack and slash the walkers using the cleaver he found in the kitchen back at the house his group stayed at. Noah pulled out the magnum firing off two shots, shooting a couple of walkers in the head. He ran firing four more shots, every walker shot in the head as he began to reload. Noah rushed toward Vernon's group, motioning them to leave as one of them Boyd nodded his head in reply. Boyd lead his group away from the walkers, which Vernon fled away on the boat he took from the shed. Noah narrowed his eyes as he saw the boat leaving with Vernon, but in the distance noticed Vernon wasn't alone. A walker appeared from behind as it sunk its teeth at Vernon's neck, blood suddenly started piling in dripping down below. The boat was accelerating at an alarming rate, heading straight for a rock lodge close by. The boat crashed with both dead, fire coming from the engine as the boat exploded. Noah suddenly heard footsteps as he cautiously readied his cleaver while he turned, only to find out it was Boyd.

"What didn't you leave with the others?"

"I decided to thank you before we leave and apologize." Boyd stated. "As soon as Vernon convinced us that wee getaway on your boat, we thought about our survival to leave. But after that," Boyd looking away in shame. "Vernon left us with he started up the boat to abandon us. It seems he was out for the boat the entire time."

"Yeah, looks like he didn't get what he deserved." Noah huffed, then glanced at Boyd. "What will you now?" he asked Boyd

"Leave Savannah find someplace else." Boyd replied when a bell suddenly rung that lead walkers toward the direction of the noise. "Good thing they're not coming toward us."

"Must be Molly or..." Noah paused as he ran, heading back at the house. "Good luck, Boyd! You'll need it."

"You too, kid..." Boyd yelled back. " You too."

`0`

Noah made it back to the house, panting as he began to catch his breathe. Rubbing off the sweat in his forehead as he spotted the group. He still saw Lee, Carley, Kenny and Doug along with Christa and Omid. His mother was still with him as well for all the time she had left, but her left arm was saw off. Possibly to cut off the infection which Noah hoped for. But when Noah went closer, his mother's skin slowly started to turn pale. Leading that the infection was still in her after her arm was cut off. Tessa noticed her son walking toward him as she went forward, hugging her son with her only arm.

"Oh, thank god. I thought..." Tessa let go of the embrace, now showing a worried look on her son Noah. "What happened?"

"What happened to you? Your arm..." Noah pointed at his mother's missing arm

Tessa slightly looked away. "I thought if I saw off my arm I would be spared from the infection. Looks like I was wrong."

"Noah, what the hell happen to the boat?" Kenny spoke breaking the conversation between mother and son

"It blew up, Kenny. While you guys were away, Vernon with his group knocked me out and took it."

Kenny had a angered look on his face. "The invalids?!" his tone filled with sudden anger

"I'm pretty sure they have names like anyone else, but yes." Noah said nervously judging by how furious Kenny became

"Did they have Clementine?" Carley asked Noah

"No, they didn't. Vernon was pretty pissed when he found out we didn't have her with us." he stated

"God fuckin' dammit! I'm gonna kill him!" Kenny roared with rage

"A walker already beat you to it." Noah reassured Kenny as he walked out

Lee made his way toward Noah. "So he didn't have Clementine when he came here?"

"No. Which means that guy on the radio might have her."

"What did you say?" Kenny's voice shouted

"I'm saying we need to calm down here, Kenny." Doug stated calmly. "There could be somewhere else to go. After we find Clementine."

"Where the hell do you expect us to go?"

Doug shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, maybe the countryside like Christa suggested? Walkers hardly stay in the mainland. Most of them are always in the cities. Nothing's changed, Kenny."

"Nothing's changed?!" Kenny exclaimed. "Look what happened! Noah's mom gets bit, the guy on the radio still fucking with us and the boat's gone!"

"Kenny, calm down alright? We'll-"

"The hell I-"

"ENOUGH!" everyone turned their attention to Noah. "We find Clementine. That's it." Noah glanced at Kenny. "Aside from the boat being taken, I know you're still pissed Kenny. Pissed that Ben got Katjaa and Duck killed..." he trailed as Kenny prepared to speak, but got caught off by Noah. "No, you listen! You're not the only one who has it rough. Lee's family is gone, so is everyone else. When I talked to Ben, he said he still had family left. A mom, a dad, and a little sister. But worst of all, there was a point where he didn't even know if they were still alive, dead, walkers or worse. He told me you were lucky that you said goodbye to your wife and kid. You remember how they died, but he still doesn't if they're out here and I don't know how much time my mom has before she turns. So for the sake of everyone, give it a fucking break!"

"Jesus, Ben..." Kenny trailed off, looking down non aware of the pain Ben felt before he died back at Crawford

"You guys hear that?" Doug inquired as walkers were head nearby. "Shit, everybody inside!"

Everyone went inside the mansion, hearing the sound of walkers trying to get in. Feeling it was his rise to lead the group, Noah told Christa to get upstairs as his mother went to help her. Kenny and Doug went to look for weapons to use, while Ben and Lee moved the furiture to barricade the mansion. But as he saw Omid's shocked expression, he yelled for everyone to rushed toward the front doors in order to help Omid. Noah's foot was grabbed as he kicked a walker a few times, tearing out a hand while Lee cut the hands off of walkers trying to get inside. Unfornately, they break free from the living room as everyone went upstairs after Noah and Lee shot a couple in the head. Once upstairs, the group armed themselves with their pistols as they make their last stand. They checked to see how much ammo they had left. Lee had four, while Carley and Noah had six. Tessa and Doug had three bullets left, while Kenny and Christa had five. They timed their shots, aiming every walker in the head as Tessa looked up to see the attic. She opened it and went up along with everyone else in the group, leaving Lee to close the attic door shut.

Once they remained trapped in the attic, Noah started looking for a way. Somewhere the walkers couldn't find the group. When they heard Clementine's and that was located in the Marsh house, they realized there was still hope in finding her. Noah slammed a lamp toward a wall that had a weak spot. Fortunately there was another mansion attached to the one they were in as each of them took turns into breaking down. Kenny brought back memories of what happened since the outbreak. How they stayed in the motor-inn, and the sudden mention of Lily and Larry. How they had to leave Lily's father behind and left Lily behind after she shot Ben's friend Travis. After they made it out of the other mansion they scurry above the building through make-shift bridges that lead to every roof. Things went south as Christa was trapped in a building above them, leaving Kenny and Doug to give her a boost. They both sacrifaced themselves to save Christa while they noticed the Marsh house was a couple blocks ahead. There was a support beam that was lead them on the other side of Savannah, a couple blocks near the Marsh house. Since Christa was walking for two and Omid's leg was still healing, Noah along with Tessa walked over the support as mother and son hack and stab walkers heading toward them, while walker blood sprayed on their clothes making their way to the Marsh house.

Inside, Noah and Tessa made their way to a open hotel room as they noticed two dead walkers on the floor. That's when Noah realized they were Clementine's parents, suddenly remembering the picture while he found her and Lee that one-time when the outbreak started. He also noticed her hat on the dresser as Noah went to grab it, but the sound of a gun click stopped him. Him and Tessa turned around slowly as they were held at gunpoint by a scrawy caucasian man wearing a brown coat and khalis. The stranger motioned his gun to have both of them sit on the couch. Clementine was inside the room with them as well, with the stranger carrying the gun to ask for silence. Noah kept wondering who this guy and he would hold some sort of grudge to the group. That's when the stranger remained him of a station wagon that had food and supplies, something that was needed to survive as Noah's eyes widened with shock. The stranger he was talking to was the owner of the station wagon. The stranger told his life. About him being a father coaching little league, how he got his son killed which left his wife to take her and their daughter away.

"You left her in the hands of farmer maniacs." he stated coldly, recalling the encounter with the St. John's

"We didn't even know they were cannibals." Noah said quickly

"You left a grieving woman out on the road." the stranger replied mention the group leaving Lily which made Noah glare at him

"You weren't fucking there. And she deserved it for shooting that kid in cold blood." Noah huffed. "So how you tell us how the hell you even knew about us."

The stranger simply smiled as he sat the walkie-talkie down on the coffee table, along with a small note as Noah's eyes went wide. Clementine had told the stranger everything that happened to the group after they took everything from the station wagon. And most of all, the letter he left out unknown to everyone.

"My wife found the note you left behind. It was in the glove compartment, your camp in that motor-inn. I thought it could be a trap and that it was dangerous," the stranger looked away with a grim look. "But she said it was dangerous her and our daughter to be with me. So she took our daughter to find the travelier motor-inn across Macon. I found them the next day, dead."

Noah narrowed his eyes at the stranger. "What happens now?"

"You're a thug and a thief. And I'm going to end you and her so badly." the stranger declared as they both saw the door open quietly behind. "We'll be ready to go in a minute, sweetie." the stranger looking down on a bowling bag, which showed the head of the . "It's almost over."

"Just about." Tessa said, telling Clementine to grab the knife laiding on the dresser with her and Noah's gear. "It will be over soon."

While the stranger was occupied talking to his dead wife, Clementine stabbed the stranger in the shoulder as Noah pounced on him. Tessa went to help her son, only to fell on her knees as the stranger shot her in the stomach. The stranger was pointing his gun at Noah's face as Noah twisted his hand, which made the stranger to toss the gun away near the dresser. The stranger went toward it until Noah violently tackled him to the closet, choking the stranger with both his hands. Only rage was unleashed on Noah as he started choking the man's life, only for the stranger to tackle him on the ground strangling Noah back. It all ended as the stranger was shot in the head, killing him as Noah looked to see it was Clementine that killed him frightened. Tessa made her way toward her son and Clementine who dropped the gun in sudden fear

"I...I..." Clementine paused with tears in her eyes as she cried while Tessa hugged her with her right arm, calming her down

"It's okay, Clementine. It's okay." she said as the nine year old noticed Tessa's skin getting paler as she was close to being a walker. "It's wasn't your fault."

"You're hurt!" Clementine exclaimed, noticing a gun wound on Tessa's stomach

"I know, sweetie." Tessa replied as Lee and Carley made it to the room where they spotted the three along with Clementine's kidnapper. "It's over."

Noah made his way to the door. "Alright, let's go and-" Noah was cut as a walker was standing in front of him, but it only stood now noticing Lee, Carley and Clementine. Noah quickly pushed the walker on the floor and shot it in the head. "What the..."

"You're covered in that muck." Carley said, pointing at Noah's clothes. "It didn't even read you. They can't see you when you're covered in walker blood."

"It's the muck. That's how we get out of Savannah!"

"Your four are getting out." they turned to see Tessa laying on the wall, with her hand on her wound. "It's too late for me."

Noah crouched down toward his mother. "No, no! It's not too late! I won't let it be!"

"Noah... I'm already near the end." Tessa said sadly. "Once I'm gone, I'll turn and hurt you and them." she looked at Lee and Carley. "I need one of you to shot in the head. Prevent me from turning. I want to die while I'm so human."

"No, no... NO! Dammit I can't lost you!" Noah shouted, looking down as a tear streamed down his face with Tessa placing a hand on her son's shoulder

"It doesn't matter. All that mattered was I get to see you again before I go. Noah..." Tessa paused, wincing in pain as Lee went over to them as Carley comfort Clementine witnessing her dead parents

"Noah, you know there's no other way." Lee stated sadly

Noah looked at him with another tear streaming down his face, wiping it away. "I... I don't know what to say right now."

"My little boy has become a brave man." Tessa said as she reached down under to pull out a necklace. "I want you to have this. For good luck now that mine's worn out."

"I'll miss you." Noah said hugging her one last time

"I know. And I will always love you. I'm so proud of you." Tessa hugged back as she nod her head for Lee to pull the trigger after Noah let go and looked away. "Thank you."

Lee nodded as he shot Tessa in the head. "Rest in peace, Tessa Riveria." he looked at Noah along with Carley and Clementine. "Noah I'm..."

"I know, Lee." Noah said not looking. "Let's just go."

`0`

Lee was standing beside a tree, leaning his back as he stared at Carley with Clementine on her lap sleeping. She looked at Lee then at Noah who held his survival book in his hand. He gave it one last look as he threw it on the ground, with Clementine opening her left eye spotting the small notebook. Noah looked at his mother's locket necklace, staring at it as he put it on his neck. That's when Lee noticed two people off in the distance, narrowing his eyes to get a better look at whom the figures were. He walked to Carley and Clementine after Noah noticed as well, being the first to move toward the two figures.

"Clementine? Time to wake up." Carley said as the nine year old got up from Carley's lap, staring at the Noah's survival notebook. "It's time to go." Clementine nodded her head as Carley and Lee went toward Noah and the two people, with Clementine grabbed the notebook and putting it in her jacket pocket as she ran toward the others


End file.
